Hell is my new home - ON HOLD
by sailorel
Summary: Mainly about Sebastian's and Ciel's relationship. The contract shifts when Ciel fails to get his revenge and both Sebastian and Ciel are sent to Hell - Sebastian as the demon he is and Ciel as a so called "demon's pet". Unfortunate for Sebastian, it seems like he isn't the only one desiring the teen's soul... / Sebastian x Ciel / AU /
1. Chapter 1

**Please read this!**

**This story is mainly about Sebastian's Ciel's relationship ( boy x boy ) so if you don't like that sort of thing, then please don't read. Go find some other nice story, there's plenty of them ^^ T-rated: there won't be "that sort of action" or what I should call it, it's more like... uh, _huge_ hints + cursing & some violence **(not in this chapter particular, but later on)**_. You have been warned._**

**Reminder: **English is _not_ my mother-tongue, so I'm really sorry for all the grammar-mistakes & such. Feel free to tell me if you find some sort of pattern or ridiculous mistakes, but please don't shout at me, I'm trying my best and still learning!

**Disclaimer: **I only own the "Hell" I've created, nothing more than that. The lovable characters I've sent to my little "wonderland" belongs rightfully to their creator, Yana Toboso.

**xxx**

Ciel sat up and yawned while stretching his somewhat short arms. He hadn't grown since his seventeenth birthday, the day one of his rivals succeeded to assassinate him. Even though he wasn't as childlike as he had been when he was younger, he sure as hell didn't look like an adult and no one acted that way either. Sometimes it pissed him off, but Sebastian – his former butler, back then in his human life – always snapped him out of his anger, reminding him that things weren't the same as they had used to be.

With a sigh Ciel stood up and shivered. Even though he had lived in this literal Hellhole for some time, he hadn't gotten used to the temperatures there. During the late evenings, nights and early mornings it was freezing far below -50 degrees and during the days the temperature could easily surpass 70 degrees. It was like that in Hell, but since only demons resided there, the very low and high temperatures didn't bother anyone.

Anyone except Ciel.

"Sebastian!" He shouted and hugged himself tightly. "It's way too cold here!"

The door across the bedroom was opened and a tall man with silky raven hair peeked in. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the young man shiver in his white nightgown, glaring at his former butler.

"Then put some clothes on." Sebastian stepped into the room and closed the door behind himself. "You can't stand around and expect it to be any warmer that way, bocchan."

Ciel didn't move, he just stared at Sebastian, who smiled mockingly. "Can you do it yourself or shall I help you?"

The younger man just snorted and looked away. He didn't want Sebastian's help, but the truth was that he hadn't dressed himself in a long time and was still a bit slow doing it. It was ridiculous and Sebastian always mocked him about it, but Ciel couldn't help it. He had been born into a wealthy family in the Victorian era and that was the way he had been living all of his seventeen years.

"No I don't need your help."

"Then why did you call me, bocchan?" Sebastian stood still, smiling at Ciel, who turned around and walked to the drawer, wherefrom he sought some clothes to put on.

"Well", Ciel answered with an ignorant voice, "you told me to inform you when I wake up, didn't you?" He stopped his searching among the clothes and turned to Sebastian. "I said that I don't need your help. There's no reason for you to stand there and watch me."

"Very well then", Sebastian said, smirking devilishly, "I won't do anything if I'm not needed, _bocchan_. But you can't order me to leave and I have to admit that I find it quite amusing to watch you taking care of things all by yourself. I hope it won't be a problem for you, bocchan?"

Ciel blinked and turned away, slightly blushing of anger and embarrassment. Even though he would have wanted to order Sebastian to leave him alone, he couldn't. Sebastian had every right to stand and watch Ciel and it made him very uncomfortable. It wasn't Ciel who was in charge now – it was Sebastian – and the former butler enjoyed every bit of it.

"No, I don't mind it, not at all", Ciel stated with a neutral voice, trying to calm himself down. He didn't want to give the older demon the pleasure of successfully harass him. "By all means, stay and watch."

He found some comfortable clothes – they were also easy to put on – and changed as quickly as he could. He didn't bother to cover up his right eye (the one with the contract mark), since he knew there was no one who would be shocked about seeing it down in Hell. All the time he could feel Sebastian's burning hot stare travel up and down his body, but he did his best to ignore it. Sebastian loved to watch Ciel after their arrival in Hell, since the boy had got a few new… features. Since Ciel had failed in getting his revenge, Sebastian couldn't devour his soul – and the truth to be told, he wouldn't have done it even if he could have – but instead the contract got reversed and both of them were sent to Hell; Sebastian as the demon he was and Ciel... well, it wasn't quite sure what he was, but the other demons called him a "demon's pet", as soon as they saw the teeth, claws, ears and tail of his.

When Ciel was ready, he closed the drawer and walked towards the door, passing Sebastian who still stared at him. When he almost reached the other end of the room, Sebastian jumped in his way, grabbing the younger man's wrist.

"Where are you going?" Sebastian's eyes flashed pink when he looked coldly down on Ciel, who shivered.

"It's still cold", the other complained, still trying to keep his annoyed mask, but failed miserably. Sebastian had managed to scare him and they both knew it. "I'm going down to drink something warm."

"Like what?" One of Sebastian's thin eyebrows shot up and then he smiled. "I can give you some blood, if you want something warm."

Ciel tried to back away, but Sebastian's iron grip around his wrist made it impossible. He shook his head. "I don't want your blood, demon."

Sebastian laughed and bowed down. He licked Ciel's neck up towards the child-looking man's face, leaving a trail of warm saliva. Ciel stared at the wall, trying to calm his breath and his racing pulse.

"I could make you a demon too, you know", he whispered into Ciel's ear, "so try not to insult our kind." Then he straightened up, still holding the other's arm in a firm grip.

Ciel blinked. He felt angry instead of scared and got courage to glare again. "I really don't understand why you haven't done it already. It would mean that I got rid of this stupid ears and this tail. I actually can't wait until you decide to do something about me." He stared the taller man right in the eye with an irritated expression. Sebastian laughed and petted Ciel's ears. The shorter man hissed and exposed his pointy teeth, but Sebastian didn't react to it. "Aren't you a cute one, eh? My dear bocchan."

Ciel tried to get away from Sebastian's touch, but failed and ended up bumping right into the taller man's chest. "Leave me alone."

Sebastian's expression got harder. He looked down on Ciel and caught the teens chin in his hand, forcing Ciel to face him. The shorter man panted after trying to get free and Sebastian could see a petite blush spreading over Ciel's cheeks. "You have no power over me, bocchan. You're not a demon and wouldn't survive a day without my help in this Hell. You should be thankful to me for taking you in and protecting you."

It was true – Ciel wouldn't last in this horrible world of dark creatures if he wasn't protected by a much stronger demon and the cat-like features was the proof of it. Sebastian wasn't sure of how it actually worked, but he had heard stories of other demons who took humans to Hell and made them their pets. Ciel had been brought to Hell by accident, but since his human body was long rotten, Sebastian had no other choice than to accept Ciel as his own.

He couldn't deny it – he liked having Ciel close to him and being able to control the young man, but it was quite troublesome at times. Ciel was as stubborn as ever and he didn't want to be called Sebastian's pet nor did he want to act like a pet. It was very understandable, but it was also dangerous. If other demons noticed Ciel's struggling nature, they would try to take advantage of it and harm Ciel - and Sebastian knew they could be very evil and violent. If it was possible, he would try to keep Ciel safe from unnecessary pain, but he didn't reveal this fact to the young man for obvious reasons.

Ciel felt how Sebastian let go of his hand. He watched Sebastian turn around and walk out the door, then heard the low "click" when the door got locked from the outside.

Still panting, Ciel fell down to the floor, curling up into a small ball. He shivered when the cold floor touched his bare skin, but didn't move. It was true – everything Sebastian had said was true and he knew it. There was nothing Ciel could do except obeying the demon. He couldn't run and although he would manage to escape, some other demon would probably take him and make him their own. He was thankful to Sebastian, because even though the man was a demon, he surely wasn't the worst of them. Yet – this wasn't the way he wanted to live the rest of his life… or existence, since he already died once.

The teen wrapped his tail around himself, trying to keep the coldness away. He had to do something about this situation, he had to try to figure something out. Ciel's pride and self-esteem couldn't take much more of this sort of treatment, because even though he had been powerful and successful in his human life, it had all been thanks to Sebastian and his demon powers.

And now the tables had turned and Ciel had nothing left, except for Sebastian, who he had to cling to for all that he was worth, more or less.

**Thank you for reading and please review if it feels like it! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Reminder: **English is _not_ my mother-tongue and I know there's probably a lot of grammar mistakes in the chapter, even though I've read it through about a hundred times... I'm sorry. If you find any pattern or some ridiculous mistake, please do tell me, I'm thankful for all the corrections! :)

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but the Hell born from my overactive imagination, the rest belongs to Yana Toboso

**xxx  
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There was no sun in Hell and Ciel didn't know wherefrom the light and the warmth came, but he was very thankful for the thing he called "sun" (just to get some control over his existence) for not having to live in constant coldness. Even thought everything above 40 degrees started to feel uncomfortable and 70 degrees almost unbearable, it was better than freezing to death. Ciel wasn't sure if it was possible for him to die all over again, but he wasn't curious enough to boil his own blood as an experiment. Instead he crawled under his bed – the coldest place in the room – and laid there. He had stripped down long ago and wore only short pants, trying to cool his body down.

Sebastian hadn't returned, but since Ciel's body didn't require food, (only water and sometimes a bit [even though Ciel hated it] demon blood – specifically Sebastian's blood) it wasn't a problem. There was a bathroom in the room and every half an hour Ciel had to crawl out from his cold spot to go and drink water. He drank easily about twenty litres per day, since he sweated like a pig during the heat periods. He was lucky his (sort of) new cat-like body could stand the temperature changes, because it was quite sure his human body wouldn't have tolerated the stress. Also, he didn't suffer from asthma anymore, which was a big plus, since otherwise he would have walked around sneezing all the time with a tail and cat ears attached to his body.

It had been almost an hour ago when Ciel had drunk something and now his throat felt sore. Once again, he crawled out from under the bed and walked to the bathroom, which was really small, only furnished with a mirror hanging over the sink, a bathtub and a toilet. He leaned against the sink and opened the tap, waiting for the water to be at least a little bit colder. It was probably due to the warm weather that even all the indoor liquids were almost boiling. During the first days in Hell, Ciel had learned to be patient and wait for the water to cool down, after taking some large sips of burning hot water directly from the tap. The taste of blood and burned flesh had followed him a whole week, until Sebastian got tired of Ciel constantly pulling pained faces and healed the wounds with his own blood. That was also the first time Ciel had drunk that much demon blood at once.

Ciel bowed down and splashed cold water in his face. He looked at his reflection in the mirror while slowly drying himself. His blue/grey hair was a bit messy, but not so bad compared to what it could have been. The teen's right eye shone bright violet, still marked by the contract he had made with Sebastian when he was human, but his left eye was still blue - the natural eye colour he had been born with. When Ciel first find out that he had been halfway transformed into a cat, he hadn't been too happy about, but later on been relived that at least his eyes looked human, which meant that maybe – just maybe – he could been taken seriously. The brownish cat ears didn't match his face, but Ciel had started to get used to them. Sebastian seemed to like them, which wasn't a surprise, considering the way he had treated the random stray cats when they still were among other humans.

_"No, wrong", _Ciel thought and bowed down again, this time to drink the water, _"I'm not human anymore. I'm not one of the humans. It's lucky for them that Sebastian and I aren't on the surface of Earth, but in Hell."_

When he had drank enough, Ciel straightened up and dried the area around his mouth with the back off his hand. He gave the bathtub a longing look, but knew that Sebastian would probably kill him (_almost_ kill him, because apparently torture was more fun than actually killing the prey in the demon world) if Ciel tried to fill the tub with cold water so he could cool off.

The day passed silently. Ciel walked back and forth between the bathroom and the bed and when the cold evening came creeping, he dressed up once again and went to sit on the floor, next to the only window in the room. The last rays of "sunlight" shone at him, warming him before everything would freeze before the night. To his own surprise and dislike, Ciel found himself purring like a cat, enjoying the warmth. He opened his eyes when he heard someone chuckle behind him.

In one jump Ciel was up from the floor, hissing at the man behind him. He calmed down a bit when he realized it was Sebastian, but didn't completely relax. He hadn't seen the demon during the whole day – besides he had been locked in his room (once again) and he had been so bored he could have died because of it – and it made him doubt Sebastian's intentions.

"Where the hell have you been all the day?" Ciel asked annoyed and crossed his arm. Sebastian smirked.

"Taking care of some business. You wouldn't understand."

"Well, you don't explain anything to me, so how could I understand?" Ciel glared at Sebastian. He felt the warmth, radiating from the window, against his back and it made him want to spin again.

Ciel frowned angrily at his own thoughts. _"I'm not a freaking cat and I'm definitely going to act like one!"_ He ignored the weird craving and continued to glare at the demon.

"It's really not your place to question my actions, bocchan." Sebastian looked dead-seriously at the boy, who trembled a little. "You should have realized it by now."

Ciel stared at Sebastian for a while, then he sat down and shut his eyes. "Whatever."

Sebastian smiled and walked to the bathroom. Ciel could hear the water pouring into the empty bathtub and he opened one of his eyes to look around.

_"So that's why he came",_ Ciel thought for himself. Ciel had liked baths in his human life, but since he had gotten the… "extra features" he had had trouble with water. The tail and the ears were extremely sensitive and water didn't make it easier. The first time Ciel had tried to take a bath by himself he had nearly drowned, because the pain in the tail had made him space out. Since that time Sebastian had prohibited bathing if he wasn't "supervising", as he put it.

"Are you coming?" Sebastian appeared at the door and looked down on Ciel, who still sat in front of the window. "Or are you going to purr some more?"

Ciel snorted and got up. Without giving the older man a second glance, he walked past him and into the bathroom. Sebastian didn't need to encourage Ciel to undress and get into the bath, since the young man himself wanted it. He felt dirty after sweating the entire day and a nice bath would surely make him feel better.

Sebastian's eyes didn't leave Ciel's body for even one second. He saw the old brand on Ciel's back and crossed his arms. The mark on Ciel's right eye, the proof of their contract, was sure as hell more beautiful and suited the young man much better than that old burn mark.

Still smirking, the demon watched Ciel's tail softly wrap along the teen's arm, as if it had its own will. Ciel stepped carefully into the water and sunk slowly down on his knees. He felt the burn in his tail when it touched the lukewarm water, but it wasn't as unbearable as it had been the first time. Slowly it adjusted to the temperature and it hurt a little less for every second that passed. Ciel breathed slowly, trying to find a comfortable pace so his mind wouldn't blank. He didn't like having to rely on Sebastian, because wasn't entirely sure if the demon would save him or if he would let Ciel die during the bath.

"You're sweaty", Sebastian said. In his hand he had a yellow sponge and now he wagged it a little. "You should clean yourself, bocchan."

"Hmm." Ciel snatched the bath sponge from the demons hand. "Of course I am sweaty, what did you expect? I'm not a demon like you and the heat here is higher than it was back home." Rapidly he started to clean himself.

Sebastian didn't say anything; he just backed down to his original spot, standing across the room, leaning against the wall and watching Ciel. He felt the urge to remind the teen that there was no longer such a thing as "home" on Earth, but held it back. It would probably take some time for Ciel to accept the new situation, even though it already had passed a few months since they arrived in Hell.

When he was ready, Ciel put the sponge aside and started to get up. There was no need to sit naked in the same room as that hungry looking demon, not at least longer than necessary. To Ciel it felt like Sebastian enjoyed the whole process far more than he should have.

Halfway up, Ciel felt someone pushing him back down. A scared noise escaped his lips when he fell backwards into the tub. His tail hit the bottom and a flashing peak of pure pain stroke through him, paralyzing him. His head got underwater and he felt like drowning, when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up. Ciel gasped for air, blinking the water out of his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were that fragile", Sebastian apologized teasingly, while helping Ciel.

"What was that for?" Ciel asked. He didn't sound as angry as he had hoped, but the pain was still present, making his tail twitch and making him somewhat slower. "Decided to kill me or what?"

"No." Sebastian met Ciel's gaze with a serious expression. "I'm just putting you back down in the water, because you didn't wash yourself properly."

"What do you mean?" Ciel asked annoyed.

Sebastian grabbed the wet sponge, still holding Ciel in a firm grip. "Since you won't do it yourself, I'll do it for you."

Ciel's eyes got bigger when Sebastian roughly grabbed his tail and started to scrub it with the sponge. Ciel tried to wiggle out of Sebastian's grip, crying out of pain.

"I've noticed you avoid touching your tail and ears", Sebastian said calmly, "but if you don't do it, they won't get used to it. Don't worry, you will soon feel better. This kind of pain isn't permanent, bocchan."

Ciel heard what the demon said, but he didn't care. He struggled to get free, but Sebastian was too strong. The teen grow slowly desperate and in a brief moment, Ciel came up with a very stupid idea.

Without hesitation, the boy let his sharp but small teeth sink into the demon's hand. He tasted the blood for a short while, then he felt a hard squeeze around his tail and had to let go of Sebastian. He cried out loud, once again, and tried to get further away from the other man.

Sebastian's eyes got a pinkish colour. He held Ciel close to himself and stared at the shorter male with a gaze that could only be described as very _hungry,_ yet _furious_. Ciel saw the oncoming danger, but couldn't do a thing about it.

"So you do want my blood?" Sebastian murmured. He licked the small wounds Ciel created and they immediately stopped bleeding. Ciel stared scared at the man before him. He had never before seen Sebastian like this, not even all those times he had thought that the demon was going to devour his soul.

"No, I don't", Ciel answered, with a shaking voice, "I want you to let me go."

"That's not going to happen, not before you've let me wash your tail and ears like the good little kitten _you should be_." Sebastian gave Ciel a look that clearly said "last warning before something you will deeply regret will happen". Ciel swallowed. Did he have any choice?

They sat still for a very long time. At last Ciel looked away and Sebastian carefully took Ciel's tail between his fingers. Slowly he picked up the wet sponge from the floor, where he had dropped it and started to clean Ciel, who hugged himself tightly. He dug his sharp nails into his skin, trying to endure the pain, but got stopped before he managed to make any wounds. Sebastian's eyes were emotionless when he looked at Ciel's claws.

"Don't do that. The water will get dirty and the cleaning will be useless if there's blood floating around. Do you hear me, _Ciel_?"

Ciel quickly gazed up, meeting Sebastian's crimson eyes. Then he looked down again and nodded silently.

_"Finally",_ Sebastian thought and continued to scrub Ciel's tail, which was dirty by both sweat, blood and dust that the boy had succeeded to pick up during his stay in Hell, _"he understands to be a little obedient."_

Sebastian noticed the tip of the tail was the most sensitive spot, since Ciel's body tensed up the most when Sebastian touched it. Soon he was ready with the tail and reached out for his "pet's" ears. Slowly Ciel moved closer to the demon. He grabbed the edge of the bathtub and shut his eyes when he felt Sebastian grip his left ear.

It was even more painful than hitting his tail against the tub. Ciel had a hard time not to sob loudly when Sebastian scrubbed his ears. It was not as much the touch as it was the _water. _It was everywhere – on his ears, around them and even _in_ them. It was uncomfortable, unbearable and terribly painful. Ciel had no idea why, it just was. He dug his claws deeper into the porcelain-like bathtub, hoping the torture would soon be over.

Sebastian watched the young male cry silently. He didn't like seeing Ciel in this kind of pain - it didn't bring him any enjoyment - but he knew that once it was done, the next time wouldn't be as hard. It seemed like the ears were even more sensitive than the tail and Sebastian wondered in case they were sensitive in other ways than pain too. He heard a very silent scratching noise and noted that Ciel was violating the bathtub with his sharp nails, but he didn't mind. If it made the pain easier to take, he wouldn't try to stop the boy.

When he was ready, he helped Ciel out of the bathtub. It was clear that Ciel's mind was dizzy due to the pain and he couldn't stand on his own. Sebastian wondered if he hadn't taken it a bit too far, but chased the thought away. This was the only way to fix the problem.

"The water…" Ciel complained quietly. "The water hurts… I'm soaking… wet…"

Sebastian looked surprised at Ciel, but nodded after thinking it over. He dried the ears and the tail very gently with a fluffy towel and put it then on the teen's shoulders. Then he leaned closer to Ciel's ears and started to lightly blow at and into them. Ciel shuddered at first, but then he relaxed a bit, curled up on the floor inside the huge towel. Sebastian felt stupid for doing it, but didn't stop. It was he would had put Ciel in such a state and now he had to deal with the consequences of the young male's pain.

It wasn't long before Ciel fell into some kind of sleep, his body trying to deal with the terrible pain he had been put through in a very short amount of time. Sebastian dried carefully both the ears and the tails and when he softly petted the damp ears, he heard a very low noise. Surprised he looked down on Ciel's sleeping body. The furry tail slowly moved, back and forth and soft growling was heard from the teen.

Sebastian frowned and leaned closer in, still petting the ears. Smiling he picked up his former master and carried him to the bed, tucking him under the warm sheets, before the coldness of the night would freeze the small body. He walked to the door, looking at the sleeping boy in the large bed, smirking.

He had found the sensitive spots and now he had checked in case those places were sensitive for other feelings than pain too. Even though Ciel would deny it, Sebastian had heard it. That boy spun like the sweet little kitten he was. Still smirking Sebastian left the room, locking the door after him.

**xxx**

**Hello and thank you for reading!**

**I hope you didn't find this chapter boring, it was a bit longer than the last one. Next time I'm updating, there will be some new (supporting) characters and a little bit trouble for both Ciel and Sebastian... So please hang in there, the action will come, haha. If you have anything to say or if you find some mistakes in the text, please tell me! All sort of reviews & PMs are highly appreciated.**

**Oh, and have a nice day, hopefully I'll see you next time again :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Reminder: **I've said this before and I'll say it again: Sorry for the grammar mistakes. English isn't one of my mother-tongues and I know I make many mistakes. Feel free to correct me if you think it's worth it.

**Disclaimer: **Everything [except for Friedrich, Carmiza (who btw isn't Madam Red. She just happens to have red hair) and Hell that are all _mi~~ne_] belongs to Yana Toboso, who we should worship for creating such beautiful characters :3

**xx**

Sebastian glanced at Ciel over the edge of his notebook. He had been watching the young male ever since he had brought him downstairs, but every time Ciel tried to catch Sebastian looking at him, the demon continued to read the content of his book. There wasn't anything interesting in the report, but it was quite important and Sebastian wasn't that kind of demon who tried to escape his duties.

"So", Sebastian said at last, when he had finished reading, "what do you think?" He put the thick book down on his lap and rested his hand on it.

"About what?" Ciel asked, trying to look and sound as bored as he could. Yet Sebastian had seen glimpses of Ciel's impressed and surprised faces, so he assumed that Ciel was just acting – as usual.

"The manor." Sebastian smirked and rose from the big, red armchair opposite of Ciel's place on the matching red couch. "Do you like it?"

Ciel didn't answer. Sebastian's manor was much bigger than Ciel's, but there were also a lot more people living there. Everything in this enormous building was massive, yet really detailed. There was almost too much for Ciel to handle, when his senses tried to keep track on all the things his mind noticed and then foist it on him.

"It's… spacious", he replied when he realised that Sebastian wouldn't leave him alone before getting an answer, "I think it's a good enough place to live in. But I really don't have anything to compare to, so I actually don't know how the manors are supposed to look like here in Hell."

The answer made Sebastian smirk even wider. _"As expected of the former Earl, Ciel Phantomhive",_ Sebastian thought and turned around.

"I'm pleased to hear that, bocchan, but", Sebastian glanced at the teen over his shoulder, now with a very serious expression, "if you think I'll let you wander off to get at look on the other manors here, you're wrong. You're going nowhere."

A frustrated – and a little bit embarrassed – blush appeared on Ciel's cheeks. He looked annoyed away, not wanting to make eye-contact with his former butler. "Hmph. Is that why you've kept me locked up in that one room the past four weeks?"

Sebastian walked across the living room and studied the books in the massive bookshelf which covered the whole long wall. "Yes. And it was only three weeks, bocchan. Please don't exaggerate it like that, it almost makes me feel guilty."

Ciel didn't say anything, because he couldn't come up with anything snappy enough. Instead he grumpily leaned his chin against his hand and glared around, ignoring Sebastian who silently chuckled at the teen's reaction.

There was a low tree table between the two red armchairs and the couch. Even though it wasn't very high, it managed to look large, standing there in the middle of the room. There was no windows and the walls were painted in a brownish colour. It was definitely a claustrophobic's worst nightmare with the enormous bookshelf and only one exit on one of the short walls. A thick, red carpet was placed under the plush group of furniture, making the atmosphere even heavier than it already was. Besides the bookshelf, there was nothing on the walls. In one of the corners, someone had placed a large houseplant, which looked nothing like Ciel seen ever before.

"What is that?" Ciel asked and walked over to the big, red plant. Some sort of leafs covered the flower stem, but they couldn't be defined as "ordinary leafs". No, these ones looked like flames and they hungrily licked the stem, dancing around it. Yet the plant didn't burn, which made Ciel suspect that there were no actual flames. Daring he reached out to grab the plant, but Sebastian caught his hand midway.

The demon smiled a very sweet smile. "If I were you, I wouldn't touch that, bocchan."

Ciel froze, taken by surprise. He looked confused at Sebastian, but covered soon up the vulnerable face he had shown. However, the position of his ears betrayed him and Sebastian didn't doubt for a moment, that he had managed to scare Ciel once again. The boy's tail wigged uneasily back and forth at a very slow pace. It really did seem like he didn't have any control over his new body parts, but it was probably just a matter of time and some exercising and he would master them too. He managed his expressions quite well already and if Sebastian hadn't been a demon, he would probably be fooled by Ciel's acting skills.

"It is fire and you'll get burnt", Sebastian informed the teen, "so please leave the plant alone." Something evil flicker in his eyes, when he looked down at his former master and let go of his wrist.

"R-right." Ciel let his hand fall down to his side. "I won't touch it."

"An excellent decision, bocchan", Sebastian replied smiling. Ciel knew that the demon teased him, but did his best to ignore it. He didn't want to return to his prison up on the second floor, so he had to cooperate with the older male, otherwise he would have to welcome the unbearable heat and boredom.

"Sebastian?"

Both Ciel and Sebastian turned around. The door across the living room had been opened by a young looking, tall man with messy white hair. Even though he looked like he had woken up just a moment ago, he managed to be one of the most handsome men Ciel ever seen.

"Yes?" Sebastian looked at the man with completely emotionless eyes. The newcomer pulled a hand through his hair and glanced at the teen. Their eyes met and Ciel saw that this man had similar eyes to Sebastian, crimson red and mesmerising. All his features were polished and he looked as beautiful as a doll.

_"A demon",_ Ciel concluded in his mind, _"this must be one of the demons living in Sebastian's estate."_ Ciel had never asked about the other creatures in the manor and he hadn't even mentioned the huge lands that Sebastian seemed to own. He had no idea how the power and the possessions were shared between demons, but if there was any sort of ranking system, then Sebastian's status was most likely one of the higher-ranked.

"We've received a guest."

Sebastian just nodded and looked down on Ciel, who didn't know how to act. Suddenly he had started to feel the pain from yesterday's treatment both in his tail and his ears. Besides, he was really thirsty. "I thought she would come soon. I'm surprised it took her this long to come and visit us."

The other demon didn't reply, he just walked into the room, closing the door after him. Ciel watched the demon closely, since he couldn't figure out who the new man was or how Ciel was supposed to react on him. He noticed that the man seemed to glance at him quite often, as if he wasn't entirely sure how the act either.

Sebastian noted the tense atmosphere, but didn't do anything. After all – he was a demon and he enjoyed to see other struggle because of him. Instead he patted Ciel on the head – who hissed and backed away from the touch – and went back to study the bookshelf, as he had done before Ciel had tried to kill himself. He gazed at the white haired man from the corner of his eye, before choosing one of the book from the shelf. The other demon's eyes had got much darker and he stared grimly at the teen across the room.

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about, Friedrich?"

The man called Friedrich jumped a bit. His eyes didn't leave Ciel - who still shivered after Sebastian touching his ears and making the pain worse - while answering Sebastian. "May I take a look at him?"

Both Sebastian and Ciel froze. The sincere surprise on Sebastian's face melted quickly away and he nodded quietly. Friedrich thanked him and walked towards Ciel, who wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want the new demon to come and "look at him", but he couldn't run away either. It ended up with him coming to meet Friedrich in the middle of the living room, even though he hated to collaborate with this stranger.

The white haired man's eyes showed nothing but hate towards the teen. When they made eye-contact, it felt like Friedrich was trying to kill Ciel with his look. The eyes had turned slightly pinkish and he made a disgusted face when he knelt down next to the shorter male, who met the other's gaze with acted confident.

Friedrich grabbed Ciel's arms and let his hands slide over the other's body, as if it was some sort of body search. Suddenly he pulled both Ciel's tail and left ear in a careless manner, which made Ciel involuntarily whine. Sebastian was there in no time, putting a hand on the other demons shoulder.

"If you could try to be a little bit more gentle, Friedrich, both Ciel and I would appreciate it." He looked down at Ciel who had broken free from the demon's grip and now carefully rubbed his hurting ears, glaring at the white haired man.

"I'm sorry", Friedrich answered. Ciel could see that the demon had only enjoyed hurting him, but that he respected Sebastian. He was sorry for nothing more than Sebastian stopping him. When he looked at the boy with the raven haired demon's mark in the eye, he felt a sudden urge to dig out the eye and squeeze it until there wouldn't be anything else than a slimy liquid left. "It really does seem like the contract hasn't broken."

"Yes, indeed", Sebastian said. He smiled towards Friedrich. "I think our guest has arrived. You wouldn't mind to go and open the door and escort her here, would you?"

The white haired man ruffled his hair and nodded. "I'll do it." Then he left the room without saying anything more, only glaring at Ciel over his shoulder.

The teen held his left ear in a soft grip, trying to sooth the pain raging in it. He glanced at Sebastian who looked after Friedrich.

"Who the hell was he and why did he pull my tail like that?" Ciel asked angrily. He felt like he had no control over the situation or the people around him and it was a really scary feeling. Sebastian went once again to the bookshelf, for the third time already. There was continually someone interrupting what he was doing and it started to get on his nerves.

"His name is Friedrich. He's my employee… sort of. In exchange for his work here and the promise that he will come when I call on him, I protect him."

_"So, I was right", _Ciel thought and walked back to the couch, where he sat down, _"Sebastian's status is higher than the others' here. They're just working for him. But what the hell does demons work with? And what does they need protection from?"_

Just when Ciel was about to ask about it, someone slammed the door open. Ciel jumped, but Sebastian tuned calmly around, smiling at his guest.

"Welcome, Carmiza."

The woman in the doorway was quite a sight. She had red, curly hair with stripes of lighter red blended in and her eyes were exactly the same as Sebastian and Friedrich's. She looked petite – very slender, but still almost as tall as Sebastian and his white haired employee. Ciel noted that both Friedrich and Sebastian wore butler's costumes, but this woman – Carmiza – had a beautiful, green dress which perfectly fitted the nobles of the Victorian era. He wondered about it for a short moment, but forgot it when the newcomer pounced upon Sebastian.

"Oh, you have absolutely _no _idea how much I've missed you…"

"Sebastian", Sebastian interrupted emotionlessly, while the woman hugged him. Friedrich leaned on the wall across the room, watching the show from afar.

"…Sebastian", she repeated and took a step back, only so she could grab his face between her gloved hands and take a look at him, "so that's your new name, huh? Oh well, it really does suit you, you know. I heard about the contract and your little pet and I _absolutely _had to rush here to greet you. There has been a lot of…" Carmiza stopped her rambling to take a deep breath and find the right word, "…trouble down here, since you left. Besides, Friedrich has been such a nuisance."

Friedrich glared at Carmiza, but didn't say anything. Sebastian smiled politely at the gorgeous woman in front of him, knowing that she really had tried to hurry there as fast as she could. Ciel felt shocked – he didn't knew demons could have that much… energy. Sebastian had always been the calm and all-knowing type, nothing like this red haired female.

"It's nice to see you too, Carmiza, and I'm really sorry for all the trouble you've had to deal with. I hope everything is good over there, in your district?"

"It is fine, it is _fine_." Carmiza waved indifferently with her hand and looked searching around, until her eyes met Ciel's. Suddenly her whole face cracked into one big, shiny smile, even wider than the one before. "Oh, _there_ he is!"

In one swoop she had walked across the room and was now standing in front of the teen, looking down at him. Apart from Friedrich, Carmiza smiled wholehearted at him, her eyes shining with happiness. Ciel stared shocked at her, unable to do anything. The demon next to him bowed down and looked closely at him.

"Ciel Phantomhive, eh? I've seen you before, when you were human. The ears and that tail are really pretty and they suit your cute face, they truly do." Carmiza straightened up and glanced at Sebastian over her shoulder, curiously smirking. "So you decided to make him a cat, then? I've always known you had a thing for cats, but I would never have imagined that _you_, out of all people, would come up with _this_." She pointed dramatically down on the teen beside her.

Ciel felt wronged and Friedrich had tensed up in his position on the other side of the room, while Sebastian shook his head. "I didn't. I failed and the contract broke. I don't know what happened, because Ciel's human body started to rot, but his soul followed me down here and created a new form."

"Oh!" Carmiza's eyes widened and she laughed. "So it has to be true love then, right? Right, Friedrich?"

Friedrich turned his head away, after giving Carmiza a killing gaze. Ciel blushed and pulled a face that was both horrified and disgusted. Sebastian chuckled inwardly, but managed to keep a straight face.

"Lovely, _lovely_!" The female demon bent down all over again, but this time to take Ciel's chin in her hand. Suddenly the expression in her eyes changed and Ciel could see the sharp, intelligent gaze of a purposeful woman. He knew immediately that she was one of the few chosen ones that held many, many strings in her hand and she only needed to pull the slightest on one of them and everyone would organize themselves after her commands. Ciel had met this sort of people earlier, but something was a little bit different about Carmiza, something that made her stand apart from all the others.

It took a little while for Ciel to figure it out, but soon he came up with an explanation: The thing that made Carmiza different from everyone else was the she wasn't in for more, she was satisfied with what she already had. He also noticed that the cheerful female demon wasn't going to try to take advantage of Ciel. She was only curious about him, but otherwise she didn't want anything from him. It was her own pleasure to come and see him – and Ciel wasn't even entirely sure if it was for her own sake or if it actually was for Sebastian's, judging by the glances she gave him.

"You really are one cute pet, aren't you, Ciel Phantomhive?" Carmiza whispered and smiled while looking at the lost boy in front of her, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

**xx**

**Haay!**

**I know there wasn't much SebaCiel in this chap (worry not - there will be some in the next one!), but I felt like the new characters needed proper introductions. I know I said that there would be some trouble in the last Author's Note, but I misjudged the length of the text and if I hadn't cut it off here it would have went on and on _and on_... So I had to end it here, sorry! (And Friedrich is a bit of a problem, right?)**

**I've been updating _every__day_ since this fanfiction started, since I've got chapters ready (sort of) and _a lot_ of spare time. My exam week started and I've got only 4 exams (yeah, I'm one lucky bastard. But the rest of the year is going to be pure torture...) so I'll keep the pace up for the moment - but I'm warning you: when the ready chapters are out and I have to concentrate on studying again, it's going to be a lot slower... Please don't abandon me! ^^''**

**So, with that been said, I will come to the cheesy part of this A/N. I mean, I _just can't_ stay quiet anymore! When I first uploaded this fic, I thought I would have to sell my soul just to get even one reader... Not even kidding. Well, I certainly didn't know I had this many souls and I've started to suspect myself for being a self-denying necromancer. Or maybe I'm just insane, imagining numbers and shit.**

**No but really, I'm thankful for all the reviews, favorites and follows *sniff* They're all very appreciated, you have no idea how I've cheered *embarrassing*. Also all of you silent readers - I've been stalking the stats and I know you're there, haha. Hope you'll stick with this story and please review if you have anything to say! It would be nice to know your opinions about Carmiza and Friedrich, since I figured it would be boring without any supporting characters :)**

**Oh my, what a long A/N... Enough of the rambling, see you in the next chapter! ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Reminder: **So yeah, everybody probably already knows this, but I'm still putting it here - just in case. I'm not a native speaker in English and there's most likely quite a lot of errors in the text. I'm reading my chapters over and over again and I always find new mistakes & edit them subsequently. (For some reason I'm better at spotting the faults when reading on my phone?) So sorry about it.

**Disclaimer: **I've only created Carmiza, Friedrich and Hell, everything else is Yana Toboso's.

**xx**

The living room wasn't as cold as the room where Ciel had been imprisoned the previous three weeks. He wondered why, but let the thought go when he remembered how many weird things there were in Hell. He could possibly not understand all of them and maybe it was better not to, since in time all the necessary things would be explained to him.

This is what Ciel Phantomhive, the former Earl, told himself.

The truth was that Ciel had never, _ever_, before felt so lost. Not when his parents died, not when he got captured by those hooded men, not even when he summoned Sebastian and made the contract with him. After losing his family members, Ciel began his insane search for power. Now, when he was stripped of all his weapons he could clearly see how he had turned into one of those power thirsty men he despised. He had desired revenge, which had been the one thing that had motivate him to wake up in the morning and climb higher on the crazy ladder of authority.

But then Ciel had died before he had managed to find the culprit who murdered his parents and he had nothing that could motivate him to endure all the craziness around him; there was nothing that made him want to climb higher.

Hell, Ciel didn't even knew if it was possible for him to climb on any ladder at all, nor did he know if the ladder even existed. So, what could possible make him continue this horrible, humiliating life? He had cat ears and a tail attached to himself. Could it be any worse?

Carmiza had tried to pet Ciel and very soon he had had enough. Sebastian had also noticed it and politely asked the female demon to let the teen be alone and she had followed the advice without any hesitations. After that she had only cheerfully smiled at Ciel if their gazes met, otherwise she let him be in peace in his corner of the fluffy couch. Friedrich hadn't moved from his spot in the doorway, looking as gloomy as ever. Yet, no one paid any attention to him.

Except Ciel, who still tried to make all the puzzle pieces match.

"…And then I said to Joseph, that if _he _wasn't going to get rid of the spirits, _I _was going to do it. I mean, we can't have a bunch of foolish, dead human running around. I don't even understand how they got into Hell in the first place." Carmiza rolled her eyes, sighing dramatically.

"Oh my", Sebastian replied calmly, eyeing Ciel while listening to the woman's complaining, "It really seems like everything gotten out of control since I left. And it was only for six years."

"Now you're teasing me, Sebastian. You're always mocking others, acting like you were better than everyone else", Carmiza stated. She didn't sound angry, Ciel could only have described her voice as emotionless. It seemed like demons couldn't feel much at all, when everything came around. It probably wasn't just a thing about Sebastian – it was more like a thing for his entire race. They were all just really, _really _good actors, exactly like many humans. He had noticed that there were quite many similarities between demons and the mortal humans and in some way it surprised him. He had always alienated Sebastian from himself, but now he had started to change his view of his former butler.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to come across like that, Carmiza. Frankly, I really don't enjoy Hell, but since I'm still in this contract with Ciel, who can't return to Earth, I can't leave either. You could say that we're both stuck down here." It was impossible to find out if Sebastian liked the thought of being stuck with Ciel for an unknown amount of time; maybe even an eternity. Ciel interpreted Sebastian's respond as a "no", while Carmiza would have sworn on her life it sounded like a clear "yes". Only Sebastian himself knew and he wasn't going to reveal his feelings to anyone at all.

"It really is unfortunate", Carmiza said smiling. Sebastian knew immediately that she was going to tease him by the look in her eyes, but he let her be. He had enjoyed quite a lot of her company through his life and knew how to handle her peaks. "Now you _absolutely have to_ spend some time with your newfound pet. Oh yes, it really is terrible." She laughed gleefully and Ciel's face shifted to bright red. Sebastian felt almost sorry for him. The keyword is almost.

"It's really not like that", Ciel said out loud, glaring at Carmiza. Both she and Sebastian looked surprised at the boy. Even Friedrich looked up, staring at Ciel who clearly had enough. "I don't understand this place at all, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you, talking about me like some sort of… animal." He stood up and looked challengingly at the red haired woman, then Sebastian. "I've grown really tired of it."

Carmiza blinked, then she smiled sympathetically. "Oh I'm sorry, I probably hurt your feelings."

Ciel was baffled. _"Did she actually apologise to me?"_

"Please sit down, Ciel, there's no need to be angry." She softly patted the couch next to her, trying to convince Ciel to sit down and cool off. "Sebastian, and even Friedrich, knows that I always say such terrible and inappropriate things, but I really can't help it."

Sebastian followed the conversation quietly, exactly like Friedrich did from afar. Their gazes didn't miss a thing; not a word, not a tone, not even the slightest change in the others' expressions.

Finally Ciel sat down with a bitter and disgraced face, the ears pointing down and his tail wrapped around his arm. Sebastian had noticed that Ciel did that motion pretty often, but wasn't completely sure about the reason behind the gesture. He had also observed that the boy swallowed a lot, which made him conclude that Ciel was thirsty.

Carmiza narrowed her eyes a little, but only for a short second. Then she smiled widely at Sebastian. "Could I possibly stay here for a while, my dear Sebastian? I've come quite some way and I still have some things to discuss with you… but I'm afraid that it have to wait for the moment, I suspect that I need a long, warm bath and that quick."

As if Sebastian knew exactly what she talked about, he rose and showed the way with his hand, still politely smiling. "Of course, Friedrich will prepare a room for you. We'll talk later, when you've rested enough."

_"__Rested?"_ Ciel thought surprised. _"So demons needs baths and rest too? Sebastian never mentioned that. He has kept far too much information from me."_

Friedrich straightened up with a disliking expression. He glanced at Ciel and nodded to the raven haired demon, opening the door for Carmiza who still rambled.

"To be honest, I actually like your district much better than my own", she said, friendly touching her host's arm, "but that's a secret I really shouldn't say out aloud." She winked and waved at Ciel, still smiling. "See you, Ciel Phantomhive."

She walked out, but when Friedrich was about to close the door, Sebastian stopped him. "After showing her the way, bring Ciel a glass of cold water. It would be shameful to have him pass out, with guests and all."

Friedrich didn't reply, only nodded and then shut the door. Carmiza and her escort were gone, leaving Ciel and Sebastian alone. The first mentioned crossed his arms and – mistakenly – squeezed his own tail at the same time. A small whine escaped his lips and he blushed, angry at himself for being so careless. Sebastian kept a straight face, but his eyes sparkled with mischief.

"Sebastian, I don't like this at all. Please do something about it." Ciel stared at the tall demon who slowly approached him.

"And what exactly would you like me to do, bocchan?" Sebastian frowned at the boy, who sat on the couch still blushing angrily. It really was quite a sight and the older male had a hard time not to smile openly. He knew how much Ciel hated to be outnumbered and for some reason he would have wanted to make the boy feel better. Nothing had gone like planned and even Sebastian had some problems to adapt to this new ratio between them. It was actually quite weird, because the demon had been a man of power as long as he could remember – and that was a rather long time.

Ciel didn't answer the question immediately. He turned his gaze away and stared at the burning plant in the corner of the room. "You could take these ears and this tail off me."

"Bocchan, it deeply pains me to say this, but I wouldn't do that even if I could, which I don't. There's no use to complain about it." Sebastian stood calmly behind the armchair, watching Ciel's face shift from deep pink to red and pulling disgusted faces.

_"__Oh my",_ the demon thought amused, _"Now he's angry."_

Ciel rose and walked quickly up to the demon. He grabbed the man's jacket and pulled him forcefully down, so they were at the same eye level. "Why do you say that? I'm not your pet and I have no intentions to be one either. According to the contract, I'm the one who…"

"There's no contract anymore, Ciel", Sebastian said. The boy had surprised him by make such an aggressive move, but he had soon recovered from it. His eyes darkened, which made the crimson colour even deeper than what it already was. Ciel felt like drowning in the demon's eyes, while staring into them.

"Friedrich said it hadn't broke and you agreed", Ciel said, now a bit hesitating. Had he done something stupid, again? "Which mean that the contract is still in effect."

"Yes", Sebastian answered. Slowly he started to tug his gloves off, revealing the contract mark. It glowed softly and Ciel could feel a familiar tingling in his left eye, "it hasn't broke yet, you're right about that, but just because it's still operational, it doesn't mean that _you're_ the one controlling it."

Ciel realised now, that it had been a mistake to approach Sebastian in such a threatening way. He was too close to the demon to get away and there wasn't really anywhere to run, in any case. The chance that someone would enter the room right now was really low and Friedrich would probably not return in a while (Ciel guessed that the white haired man probably tried to drag on as long as he could, making Ciel to suffer from thirst as long as possible). In addition, Friedrich hated Ciel, so if he found Sebastian afflicting "his pet", the demon would probably bring the most painful instrument of torture and assist his protector in the activity.

"I think you've noticed it too, _bocchan_. You really can't stand against me if I order you to do something, am I right?" Sebastian wrapped his fingers around Ciel's neck, but didn't hurt the younger male. "So, please call on me." Slowly he started to increase the pressure, making Ciel whimper defencelessly.

"Call… you w-what?" Ciel had grabbed Sebastian's arm with both of his hands and tried to get away from him. "I don't… understand. Sebast-ian you're… strang-gling me…"

The circle in Ciel's right eye shone brightly and he could see the reflection of the light in Sebastian's pink glowing gaze. The demon exposed his pointy teeth and leaned closer to the boy in front of him. He recognized the sensation of the power and he loved the feeling of his influence over Ciel floating through his veins, making his body stronger than it already was. Seeing the expression of submission in Ciel's eyes, hearing the boy pant and feel him helplessly struggle to free himself, even though the both of them knew it was completely useless…

Only Ciel could make him feel that way and he loved the boy for it. No one and nothing, really _nothing_, had ever before managed to make him this aroused.

Slowly he raised his free hand and gently stroke the teens blushed cheek. He leaned closer, so his sharp teeth nibbled at Ciel's cat ear, when he whisper the answer to the clueless teen.

_"__I want you to call me your master."_

**xx**

**Um, so my previous A/N was pretty long, so I'm compensating it by just leaving this chapter right here...**

**Thanks for reading and please review if you have anything to say! ^^**

***sneaks out through back door before getting a chance to start rambling again***


	5. Chapter 5

**_Reminder: _**English is my third language, I'm terribly sorry for all the grammar errors

**_Disclaimer: _**I own nothing but Hell and those few OCs running around

**_XX_**

_"__I want you to call me your master…"_

The words rung in Ciel's ears while he desperately grasped for air. It wasn't like he would die – Sebastian's grip wasn't that tight – or even lose consciousness, but it felt exactly as humiliating and uncomfortable as the demon probably wanted it to.

_"__But why?"_ Ciel thought while trying to fight Sebastian's clutching fingers. _"Why is he doing this?"_

The grip around Ciel's neck was way too tight for his liking. He looked at Sebastian, who had tilted his head back so he could make eye-contact with his prey.

"I'm not … a pe-et…" he panted and tried to dig his claws into the demon's arm. Yet he knew that Sebastian wouldn't ease his grip, no matter what. Ciel had always been a bit of a sadist himself and there was no doubt that Sebastian would be even more sadistic. The only way out would be to obey his crazy request.

The last bit of Ciel's pride was scattered inside him, vanishing into thin air. _"Well at least he doesn't make me beg", _Ciel thought, trying to prepare before the great dishonour he was going to get through.

Sebastian stared at the teen in his hands without batting an eye. His gaze had completely turned into a bright pink colour and the white circle on the back of his hand shone strongly. While licking his lips he watched Ciel squirm in his hold, letting all the feelings of dominance wash through him. It was lucky for the boy that he had a very strong self-control, otherwise he would have given in to the temptation long ago. Most of the other demons would have and Sebastian knew that.

All of this was necessary for Ciel's safety. He had to let go of the need to control Sebastian, because it wouldn't work out down here. Before long someone would notice the complicated relationship they shared and try to make it useful for their own sake. Sebastian would never forgive himself it that occurred – he cared for Ciel way too much to let it happen.

_"__When did it come to this?"_ he asked himself, still watching Ciel wriggle, trying to get away. _"If it had been any of my previous contractors, I would have devoured them at this instant or dumped in the dungeon. Friedrich could have done whatever he wanted to them and I wouldn't care. So – why isn't it like that with this one? Why do I care, suddenly?"_

"I'm getting tired at this", Sebastian said with a cold voice. If this lasted any longer, he might actually do something drastic and both he and Ciel would regret it later on. He leaned closely to Ciel's ear. "I'm only saying this one more time, Ciel, so please listen carefully. Obey me or you're going to regret your rebellion."

Ciel felt Sebastian's warm respiration on his ear and neck. The demon was serious, there was no doubt about it. The fingers around his neck tightened their grip and Ciel gasped for air. He had to do something or Sebastian would carry out his threat, it was one sure thing.

"You're… stra-angling me…" Ciel's breath got heavier for every inhale, but Sebastian didn't lose his grip. He was going to end this properly, no matter what trick the teen was going to pull. "…_master_."

Ciel felt dizzy, but he could have sworn that for a second he had seen Sebastian's surprised face, as if he couldn't believe that Ciel had actually obeyed him. Later when he thought about it, he rationalized that he had been suffering from asphyxia and probably just imagined things. There was no way Sebastian would be that emotional in a situation like this.

The young male fell to the floor, holding his own neck, panting heavily. Sebastian towered over him, looking down at his prey. "That was really good, bocchan."

The boy on the floor didn't answer the demon, he was too busy trying to catch his breath. His tail laid slack on the floor and his ears pointed downwards, showing his submission.

Sebastian smiled at him. "It really took some time." The gaze in his eyes darkened, but this time of anger. "You should probably get used to this feeling, bocchan, because someday that may save you. You have no authority down here and you're wholly dependent on me." He knelt beside the young man, taking his chin in his hand and making eye-contact with him. Ciel had grown tired of all the demons doing that very gesture, but this wasn't the time to complain about it. "I've investigated a bit and it seems like the 'demon pets' are ranked the lowest. There's no one here who you could control. No one."

Then he let go and smiled at the man who were standing in the open doorway, watching them. "Thank you Friedrich, I'll take that."

In a swoop Sebastian had fetched the glass of water that the white haired demon brought with him and got back to Ciel, helping him to sit up and drink, while softly caressing the back of the boy's neck.

"Is he alright?" Friedrich asked and leaned on the wall behind him. "Did something happen?"

"No nothing particular, he was just feeling a bit giddy", Sebastian met his subordinate's gaze. "Did you show Carmiza the way to her room?"

Friedrich nodded.

"Good." Sebastian continued to concentrate on Ciel, who was now halfway choking on the water the demon made him drink. "I assume you still have some other things to take care off, am I correct?"

The man at the wall nodded once again, still watching the two others sitting on the floor. His eyes were dark red of jealousy, mixed with pink stripes of hunger and his lips were painfully pressed against each other. _"That damn cat…"_

"Yes. I'll better get going", he said and then he was gone. The door was slowly shut with a soft slam, but Sebastian knew that Friedrich was most likely already on the other side of the manor by now.

Ciel hissed and spat, trying to stay conscious. "Sto-op…" he wailed, "I can't…"

Sebastian understood and put the glass down. He held Ciel in a firm grip, helping the teen to sit upright and supporting the other's sore neck. The pink light in his eyes died slowly, revealing his usual crimson colour and the contract brand had returned back to normal as soon as Ciel obeyed the given command. Friedrich had seen all of it and probably made his own conclusions, but Sebastian didn't worry about it. The whitehaired man could be described as many things, but disloyal wasn't one of them.

When Ciel had caught his breath, Sebastian gave him the water glass, which he greedily emptied till the last drop. When he felt better he turned to the demon kneeling beside him, glaring at him. Sebastian met his gaze with confident. Of course Ciel wouldn't give in that easily and the demon hadn't expected anything else – the truth to be told, he would have been disappointed if Ciel accepted his fate too tamely. There would be no play time and it would be very boring if the boy lost his personality.

Sebastian scoffed. "Are you angry with me, bocchan?"

Ciel thought about it for a moment. What should he say? Of course he was angry, but was it wise to admit it? Sebastian was unpredictable and he could do the whole thing all over again, if he got the wrong answer. Ciel was drained of his energy, he wouldn't survive a second harsh treatment while staying conscious and he knew it all too well.

Trying to collect the last of his pride he turned his head away and stared at the door across the room. Then he looked at Sebastian, leaning a little bit closer to the confused demon. "No, I'm not."

Trembling he got up from the floor. Sebastian rose almost teasingly gracefully, but Ciel ignored it.

"I feel a bit tired. I'll go upstairs and take a rest, if you don't mind", Ciel side with a very fragile, yet demanding, voice. He glanced at Sebastian, who was clearly startled, but only for a brief moment. Soon he smiled an overly polite smile and even bowed a little.

"Absolutely not, a little sleep will do you some good. I shall escort you back to your room."

Ciel nodded with (acted) pride and followed a very pleased Sebastian. They both knew that Ciel was ready to drop down and curl up to a small ball, but the teen put up an amazingly good performance and Sebastian respected him for it, even though it made him chuckle.

When he had showed Ciel back to his room, Sebastian locked the door, making sure that Ciel wouldn't sneak out – but also so no one could get in without making a fuss about it. Then he turned around and began to walk back to the living room, since he still had some work to do. His expression was neutral, but inwardly he still snickered thinking about his former masters lightly blushed face.

He had made his move and now he only had to wait until Ciel got better and hit back.

_**XX**_

**Hello ^^**

**I changed the rating to T, since I figured that I won't write any M content anyway... I suspect that I would suck at it :D**

**This chapter is a little bit shorter than the previous ones, but the next update will (hopefully) compensate, since there's going to be a PoV change and all. Oh and the villain will be introduced (it took me sometime, I know...)**

**And then the best part: I'm really grateful for all the support you've given me, and I'll say it once again: thank you for the reviews, favs and follows! See you in the next chapter, then ^^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Reminder: **I'm not native in English and you'll surely notice it in my work. Sorry.

**Disclaimer: **Yana Toboso made Kuroshitsuji. Yana Toboso owns Kuroshitsuji. I made Joseph, Friedrich, Carmiza (and Hell) and I'm not sure if I can say that I own them. I think they own themselves, kind of. Most of the characters that I create do so. I'm probably just a very bad mom.

**Please read the following note:**

**Important information to understand the following chapter: **_This story happens in an alternative universe and I'm mostly following the manga adaption. Ciel died at his seventeenth birthday and the only times he met Alois Trancy was at a few parties they both attended. They were both noblemen and heard rumours about each other and knew the other by face and name, but nothing ever happened between them.  
><em>_Sebastian knows Claude Faustus since they're both demons and protectors. They don't like each other, but as long as nothing personal is involved, they don't have any bigger problems to co-exist. I felt like I needed to explain this so you wouldn't get confused._

_**XX**_

"…So you're telling me, that this demon, who changed his name till _Sebastian Michaelis,_ have gotten a pet for himself?"

Claude Faustus leaned against the wall behind him. His most loyal subordinate, Joseph, stood awkwardly in front of him, nodding.

"And this pet…" Claude inhaled sharply, "looks like a cat?"

"Erm… well, partly." Joseph ruffled his hair, not knowing what to do. His protector seemed to be both extremely _furious_ yet _eager_ at the same time and it confused him. "He has ears and a tail… but he's still a lot like a human boy."

Claude didn't say anything for a while. "Right." He turned away and headed towards the manor's basement. "How the hell did that demon do that?"

"I don't know, sir", Joseph said, following the black haired man, "There's a lot of rumours, but still no one knows about the change itself. One day they just… appeared at his estate."

"Wait." Claude stopped and turned around to look at his underling. "He's a protector? Someone I know?"

"He's one of the protectors in one of the eastern districts. He changed his name when he came back…" Joseph swallowed. A light was lit in Claude's eyes. He smirked and straightened his glasses.

"Ah, _now_ I know who you're talking about…" He continued his walking, while talking rapidly. "Joseph, you're going on a little trip."

"Sir?" Joseph's eyes widened a bit.

"You're going to check on that _pet_ of his and find out how the cat parts were grown. Bring the boy with you, if you must."

Soon they were down on the lowest floor, in the dungeon. Claude ignored all the crying demons and spirits who tried to reach out for him with their filthy hands and walked right towards one of the cells furthest away, separated from everyone else.

There was a blonde boy laying on the floor, sleeping. He wore filthy clothes with big holes in them and his hair was duller than ever. Claude pulled a disgusted face, muttering for himself.

"Sir?" Joseph frowned anxiously. "I didn't quite catch that. Could you please re-…"

"I was just thinking about what could possibly had gone wrong with this one. Why did that Michaelis succeed, but I didn't?" Claude sighted and touched his forehead briefly, still disgusted. "Please water him. It would be troublesome if he died. I would have to go back to Earth and search for a new pet and it's quite time-consuming and nerve-wracking."

Joseph nodded again, then turned back to gaze at the pitiable boy, who laid on the floor. Claude began to walk back, making all the prisoners scream in their cells.

Suddenly the boy opened his eyes and lifted his head. He batted his eyes, trying to focus on his environment. Slowly he raised his hand, as if he was trying to grab something.

"C-claude… please… love m-…"

Then his energy died like a small flame in a strong storm and his hand and head dropped to the floor, leaving the young man unconscious, once again.

**_x_**

* * *

><p><strong><em>x<em>**

Ciel sat curled up against the wall, under the window, in his room. The air was slowly warming up and he tried desperately to feel his numb feet, rubbing them frenetically.

It could have been wise to stay in bed, but he didn't feel like it. It was as if he knew that someone was coming very soon and he wanted to be prepared.

Yet, no one ever came. The temperature went gradually up and Ciel moved to the warm spot where the ray of "sunlight" shone in. It had become a bad habit, but he couldn't resist the warmth nor could he do anything about the weird desire to purr like his life was depending on it.

Suddenly the door was opened. Ciel jumped up, just to discover Friedrich standing in the doorway with crossed arms. The teen hissed at him, exposing his teeth and claws.

"Did I interrupt something?" The whitehaired man scanned the room and then glared at Ciel. "Or did I scare you?"

Ciel straightened his back and crossed his arms as well. "No."

"Good." Friedrich closed the door behind him. "Sebastian sent me to check on you."

_What was Sebastian thinking?"_ Ciel thought irritated. _"Friedrich hates me, why would he care about my wellbeing?"_

"You look cold", the taller man said and walked towards the teen, who backed away, "you should probably put some more clothes on."

Ciel didn't reply, so Friedrich continued his monolog, ignoring him.

"When you first came here, I tried to arrange a room without windows for you, but there were none free. I guess I should try to reorganise it all once again, since the temperatures are clearly troubling you."

Ciel's eyes widened a bit. "Since when have you cared?"

"Well", the man answered, dragging on the words, coldly staring on Ciel, "_I_ personally don't care, but Sebastian does and it's my duty to satisfy his needs."

As a response, he got a sarcastic snort. Friedrich eye's flashed pink and in a second he was right in front of Ciel, grabbing his collar and forcing him to lean closer in.

"You know, it really isn't just a thing that applies to me. It's your duty as well."

Ciel opened his mouth to protest, but the moment was over as fast as it had begun. Friedrich was back at the door, on his way to leave the room. "You seem well, Ciel, just remember to drink enough water. I'll try to rearrange the rooms and…"

The door was opened from the outside, making the white haired demon to jump backwards.

Sebastian entered the room, smiling.

"Good morning, Friedrich…" Sebastian glanced teasingly at the boy in the middle of the room. "…Ciel."

The teen turned his head away, but didn't say anything. Friedrich only nodded.

"Is there any problems with the room?" Sebastian asked with an acted worry. His subordinate sighed and ruffled his hair.

"The window radiates the outside temperatures and it stresses Ciel's body. I'll do my best to move him to a windowless room, but all the guestrooms are occupied for the moment, so I'll just have to come up with something else."

"I see…" Sebastian frowned. Then he smiled widely. "But my bedroom lacks windows as well. Ciel could move there, if it makes his stay more comfortable."

Friedrich's eyes darkened, but he didn't come with any objections. "Right. I'll do it straightaway."

He disappeared in a flash. Sebastian turned to Ciel, who looked rather upset.

"I'm not moving into your bedroom!" He said and shook his head stubbornly.

Sebastian sighed. "Why not? Demons don't need sleep, we only do it for our own pleasure and when we want to relax and I don't have time for that sort of things. Besides…" he smiled devilishly, "if I _would need_ either of them, _I'm sure_ I'll find some other way to satisfy my desires."

_"__Well, isn't that the problem, right there?"_ Ciel thought.

"This room is good enough, thank you very much."

The raven haired demon narrowed his eyes. "Ciel… are you disobeying me again?"

"No." The teen went back to the warm spot on the floor, curling up to a ball and glaring at his former butler. "I'm simply declining your offer."

"Hmm…" Sebastian put one on of his hand on his hips. "And what if I ordering you to move?"

There was no answer for a long time. Ciel glared at the demon, trying to kill him with his gaze, but failed to his own displeasure. "You haven't done that yet, so I don't know what I would do."

Sebastian sighed and rubbed his forehead with his index finger. "You really like to do things the hard way, Ciel, don't you?"

The teen didn't say anything, only continued to glare at the man in front of him.

"Very well then", Sebastian struck his hands together, "I'm _ordering_ you to move to my bedroom, Ciel Phantomhive."

There was no reaction for a while. At last, Ciel rose with an angry and bitter expression on his face. Slowly he walked over to Sebastian, careful not to step on his slowly wagging tail, until he was standing right before the chuckling man.

He snorted and looked away. "If you really want it… Then show me the way."

Sebastian smiled widely and then he bowed lightly. "Yes of course. Please follow me."

And Ciel did follow the slender demon through the manor. The building really was big and decorated with many details, but Ciel did his best not to show his wonder, since he didn't want to please Sebastian with any praise or such.

Soon they arrived in front of a pair of big, wooden doors, not so far away from the starting point. The former butler pushed the doors open without any hesitations, revealing a small room with a plush double bed in the middle and a drawer in one of the corners. Sebastian gestured to Ciel to go in and he followed the suggestion with a bored expression.

"This is it?" he asked and turned around, facing the demon.

"Yes", Sebastian snickered, "aren't you pleased, bocchan?"

The teen glared at the owner of the manor. "It's good enough."

"It really seems like everything is always good enough for you, bocchan", Sebastian replied, now with a serious tone, "have your standards dropped down since we came here, or what is it?"

Ciel hissed at the raven haired man. He was annoyed with him and he didn't want to see the demon anymore.

_"__Such a nuisance", _Ciel thought and looked away, "_I shouldn't have made a contract with him. Why the hell did he drag me here and make me like this? The contract allowed him to devour my soul and after that, I wasn't supposed to exist anymore. It was meant to be simple, not complicated as it is now."_

As if Sebastian knew what his contractor thought, he stared emotionless at the boy. "Did you lose your personality too? I can't recall any time when you would had acted like this back on Earth, bocchan."

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't", Ciel snapped and glared at the demon, "why do you care?"

Sebastian pressed his lips against each other. "Isn't that the whole point?" he questioned, while his eyes slowly changed colour to a lighter pink shade. "That I care about you?"

"Then stop playing around...", Ciel demanded and crossed his arms. His tail had wrapped itself around the boy's foot and the tip wagged back and forth, like a snake. "And do what you're supposed to do!"

Sebastian's eyebrows shot up. "Could you please enlighten me… what exactly am I supposed to do with you, in your opinion?"

"Eat me", the teen said and stared straight into Sebastian's eyes, "or kill me. Torture me, if that's what demons usually do with their… _pets._" Ciel made a disgusted face, but his voice didn't hesitate even one bit or crack at any point of his angry rant. "But don't just store me here, like I was some piece of furniture and keep me alive just because you _have _to. The contract isn't as it used to be and I really don't have any reason to live anymore. So just get over with it and stop playing with me."

The demon's eyes didn't reveal his true feelings, but in his chest he felt something painfully twitch around. _"So that is what he has been thinking, all this time… No wonder he acted weird before. Contractors don't usually value their life, but in the end they're always scared. But Ciel… he gave me his permission to torture him… no he _demanded _me to do it."_

"What if that is just exactly what I want?" Sebastian asked coldly. Ciel stiffened, but didn't turn his gaze. "Maybe I want you to stand around like a piece of furniture? You could possibly not know what the norm among demons is, Ciel."

The boy didn't say anything, but he turned around so he wouldn't have to meet Sebastian's intense glare. He closed his eyes for a moment, but opened them once again. "You're right, Sebastian, I don't know the norms among the demons, because no one has told me. I'm just saying that I'm getting _really_ tired with you taking command over something that never was supposed to be yours to control."

A bit further away in the hallway stood Friedrich melted into the shadows, wherefrom he could silently listen to the conversation between his protector and the cat-boy. He was standing motionless, feeling his own chest ache with pain. He had feared this moment ever since he had arrived at Sebastian's manor and now it had come.

Slowly he backed away - trying not to make any sounds and let his protector know he had been eavesdropping the chat – and headed towards the study on the other side of the manor. The incident hadn't really been purposely, it was more like an accident. Still he couldn't get the things he had heard to leave his mind.

The white haired man was painfully aware of the natural rule which existed among the demons: They could only fall in love once and when it was done, there was no way out of it. It didn't matter if it happened freely or unwillingly or if the love was unanswered. If a demon fell in love, he stayed in love, until the day he died.

Friedrich wasn't sure of what he himself lacked but the cat-boy had, but whatever it was, it definitely had made a strong impact on Sebastian. The underling really did hope that his protector would be able to escape the fate he had accepted a long time ago. The heart-breaking pain and all the _feelings…_

The demon shrugged and opened the door to the study with his left hand, while pulling the right through his hair.

No, he couldn't let it happen, not to his protector. He suspected that it was too late to make Sebastian walk away from it anymore, so the only thing Friedrich could do was to make sure the balance between Sebastian and Ciel was as undisturbed and peaceful as it could be. He sighed and felt the headache come, just thinking about all the work he was going to have to do.

It really seemed like he had to try to approach Ciel and _not_ kill the brat while doing it, even though he had tried to avoid any contact with the boy right up to the last.

In the study, he found Carmiza sitting on the massive work desk, apparently waiting for someone to return there.

"Ah Friedrich!" she said cheerfully and jumped down from the table. "I've waited for you and Sebastian!"

The white haired demon grimaced. "What is it, Carmiza?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news", she said with a sudden low, serious voice, "It seems like the word about Ciel has spread further away than what we expected."

"Hm?" Friedrich frowned. What an inconvenient time for the trouble to arrive.

_"__On the other hand", _he thought, _"it wouldn't be trouble if it was convenient."_

"You are going to have guests", Carmiza said and crossed her arms in a very unladylike way. Her eyes showed the irritation and exasperation she felt. Friedrich would never get used to the female demon's method of handling feelings and the honest way of hers to show them to everyone. It was so… not-demonic, in some way.

Moreover, now Friedrich was starting to feel anxious. Carmiza was serious about this issue, which meant that she didn't think it was something amusing. There was a very few things that the red haired, gleefully woman didn't label as 'fun'.

"…And you're not going to be pleased about it."

**_XX_**

**Hello everyone! ^^**

**Please review if you have anything to say and as always I'm _really, really_ grateful for all the feedback, favs and follows you've given me! All of you guys really motivates me to keep this story alive, even when I feel like it sucks balls... ( Yes, even you silent readers, I'm still guilty of stalking the stats and I've acknowledged each one of you, hahaa. Just kidding, I'm not stalking you. Or... A little bit maybe. 'O.o )**

_**I also have an important**** question! ****What do you think, should I involve Lizzie in this mess? I haven't included her yet, but I'm working at it and since there's only one female character (Carmiza) yet, I'm considering to drag in more of Yana Toboso's original characters. So what do you think? If you think it's good enough without her, I'll come up with something else. She wouldn't be that much of an important character, just supporting the story and probably messing around a little bit, as a side-plot... Haha, sorry, I really can't decide by myself.**_

**Anyways, hopefully you enjoy this story and please stay awesome ^^ See you in the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Reminder:** I'm not native in English. Both my vocabulary and grammar are works in progress, sorry about all the errors.

**Disclaimer: **I'm still not Yana Toboso, sorry to disappoint you. She owns Kuroshitsuji and all the characters there, meanwhile I own... yeah yeah, everybody knows the OCs at this point. Let's read the chapter already.

**_|  
><em>V**

**.**

**.**

Ciel sat on a simple chair in a dark room. He tried to turn his head and focus on something – anything, really – but there was nothing to see, only complete darkness. He couldn't hear any noises either, it was like the world had gone black and he was the only one left.

He tried to stand up, but couldn't because something was holding him back. Desperately he tried again and again, until he felt something warm and rough against his bare skin.

_"__Rope?"_ he thought surprised. _"Why didn't I notice it earlier?"_

He wiggled and struggled, but he couldn't get off the chair. Panting he gave up, letting his head drop down. Whoever had made the knots, knew what she or he was doing. Ciel couldn't move an inch, so tight was the cord wrapped around his wrists, ankles and stomach.

_"__Why am I tied to a chair? And where am I?" _He gulped. _"Is it safe to ask about it or is it wiser to remain silent?"_

As if somebody had read his thoughts, he could hear a distant chuckle. He raised his head and searched frenetically for the source of the voice. Suddenly he felt someone breathe warm air on his uncovered neck. It was scary, yet very exciting at the same time and Ciel couldn't understand the random desire growing in his chest. He wasn't supposed to like this; no, it wasn't suitable for a young Earl like him. He should probably call on Sebastian and order the demon to release him, right now.

_"__Why hasn't he done it already?"_ Ciel though irritated, but then he remembered: He was in Hell and Sebastian wasn't his servant anymore. But what did he do in this dark room then? Wasn't he a "pet" or something, shouldn't Sebastian have guarded him better?

_"__Ciel…."_ The touch was gone, but Ciel didn't stop squirming. He had to get out of the darkness, put some lights on and face the one who had captured him. He wasn't used to get ran over like this and he wasn't going to get comfortable with it either – no matter if he was in Hell or not, Ciel Phantomhive, the Queen's (former) Watchdog should be able to handle a situation like this.

_"__Ciel…" _There it was again. The voice was remotely familiar, but Ciel couldn't combine the clues. Who was it and what did this person want from him? All that he could make out of it was that the speaker was probably male, since an ordinary woman couldn't sound that… manly. _"Ciel."_

A heart stopping pain struck him, when he felt someone pull his tail. The feeling of being hurt came like a shockwave - and right after it a very strange kind of arousal, which made him feel more alive than in a long time. Besides, he had completely forgot that he had a tail and cat-ears. How was that even possible? They were a part of his body, he couldn't have overlooked them that easily, could he? Why was everything so distant? Why couldn't he remember how he had ended up in this room?

A high-pitched moan escaped Ciel's lips and he shrugged at the noise he had made. This wasn't the time to take pleasure in something weird like this. Also, the following tingling feeling in his chest and stomach felt a lot like the same odd craving that demanded him to purr in the warmth of the "sunlight".

That someone snickered right behind him. He felt a hand gently slide over his chest, up his neck and then cheek. He was now blushing with both awkwardness and a bizarre, frustrating need to feel the touch brush over his tense body once more. Not knowing about Ciel's wish, the hand continued its smooth journey over his lips and forehead, right into his messy hair. He tried to bite the hand, but his teeth didn't hit anything, he could only feel the fresh air in his mouth, leaving a sweet, mysterious flavour on his tongue. It was like the hand didn't even exist, yet it felt so _real_.

_"__Naughty, aren't we?"_ The voice whispered into Ciel's ear. He tried to get away from the warm breath, but the touch followed him. _"Ciel…"_

The hand had found his left ear and started to softly caress it. Ciel clenched his teeth and wiggled even more. He opened his mouth to order the hand to stop, when it suddenly tightened its grip around the tip of the ear and the only sound he managed to make was a pathetic whine.

It felt even better than when the strange fingers had travelled across his torso. Ciel's mind had started to float around, making him imagine things about the touch. Who was it and why was this person doing this…? The thought was interrupted before he had the time to come to any conclusion at all. Not that the thought had been very concentrated to begin with.

_"__You like it, don't you?"_

The voice chuckled again and the hand continued its massaging. Another hand appeared out of nowhere and it started slowly to draw small circles on his back and then stroke his tail, harshly pulling along it, making its way towards the tip. Ciel squirmed and panted, not able to ask the person behind him to stop. But did he even want it to stop, now when it had come to this point? After all, he was naked and tied to a chair. This person would probably not listen any way.

_"__So please…" _Ciel felt how the person behind him snuggled himself against his back and licked his neck, right below his ear, making him moan once again and breath even heavier than before,_"…call on me…"_

**_..._**

* * *

><p><em><strong>...<strong>_

Ciel sat up, still panting. He looked immediately around, trying to figure out where he was.

He had been curled up on top of the sheets on a large bed. The walls were painted in a very relaxing, emerald green colour and the floor was covered with a thick, black carpet, matching the sheets on the bed. There were two wooden doors on the long wall – the double one's led out to the corridor and the other to the private bathroom. There was an enormous drawer in the corner of the room and the owner of it was right next to it, smiling at Ciel.

"Oh my… did I wake you up, bocchan? I'm truly sorry."

Ciel looked annoyed at Sebastian, trying to calm down both his breath and pulse. He was still angry about the conversation they had had before, when the demon had refused to do anything about Ciel's desperate situation. "What are you doing here?"

Sebastian frowned. "Well, to be fair, this is _my _bedroom. I don't think my doings actually concerns you, Ciel." He showed a pair of new gloves in his hand. "But if you must know, I came to replace the dirty ones."

Ciel blushed and looked away. Suddenly he had managed to recognise the vaguely familiar voice and touch in his dream. He became overly conscious about his slightly heavier breathing and his heartbeats. Had Sebastian noticed them too?

The demon smirked when he saw the boy blush. He closed the drawer and turned to his contractor, carefully pulling his gloves on. "You know that you had fallen asleep on the floor? I had to carry you to the bed."

Ciel stiffened. Was that why he had dreamt such a dream…? Or had Sebastian actually done all of that to him, just to confuse him? It was a very odd thought, but not entirely impossible. On the other hand – Sebastian would probably had done it when Ciel was awake, since the demon's only real goal was to tease him. It wouldn't be effective enough, if he slept during the treatment.

The former butler smiled, when he saw the teen's reaction to his information. "It really seemed like you saw some exciting dreams. Care to share them with me?"

It was quite clear that Ciel was somewhat embarrassed, but he did his best to cover it up. "I can't remember it anymore. It was probably nothing."

_"__Lies",_ Sebastian thought amused. Ciel's blush was way too visible for the dream to be 'nothing', _"and now he has managed to catch my attention."_

In a fast swoop, Sebastian had come to Ciel's side and bent down next to the boy. He felt his contractor's light, but a little too sharp breaths. "Please, tell me, Ciel."

"I already told you that I don…"

Sebastian pressed one of his long, slender fingers on the boy's thin lips. "Don't lie to me, Ciel Phantomhive."

In an instant, Ciel had bit his tongue and flushed even deeper. Sebastian's respiration against his blushed face, hearing him whisper like that… Yes, he had definitely dreamt about the raven haired man. Ciel pushed all the other thoughts away and tried to concentrate on the important things. _"He could actually tell that I lied? I'm certainly not admitting that I was dreaming about him! No, that's not going to happen."_

Sebastian straightened up and looked down on the teen on the bed, smiling devilishly and his eyes sparkling with mischief. "I heard your low moans, Ciel, and I'm very eager to get to know what could possibly have made you sound like that."

_"__My…? My _what, _exactly? Oh no, please don't tell me that I actually moaned aloud. How do I explain this without making him laugh at me?"_ Ciel turned his gaze away, feverishly trying to come up with an escape plan.

He didn't have to think for long, because Sebastian had the perfect answer to the tricky problem. "Unfortunately, I don't have the time to talk about it for the moment, but I'll be sure to come back later, so you can share the experience. How does that sound,_ bocchan_?"

The boy didn't reply and Sebastian headed towards the doors without waiting for it. He had been living with his former master long enough to know when Ciel decided not to talk about something. With his hand on the doorknob, he turned around and made eye-contact with the teen. His expression was now dead serious.

"We're going to have a new guest come over, real soon. I don't like him, but I have to show him my hospitality, which means that he's probably going to sneak around the manor as long as he want. He also wishes to meet you, but I must warn you to be very, very careful around him. Be under no conditions alone with him, do you hear me, Ciel?"

The sudden demanding and serious tone in Sebastian's voice baffled Ciel. The former butler really seemed to mean what he said.

_"__It's strange. It appears as if he actually cared about my safety."_ Ciel frowned, but nodded obediently. _"As long as he doesn't make me talk about that weird dream…" _The wave of embarrassment washed over Ciel once again and he turned his gaze away. _"Why the hell did I even dream that? Really."_

Sebastian watched Ciel, who obviously suffered for unknown reasons – but most likely related to all that blushing he had been doing ever since he woke up. The raven haired man's eyebrows were slightly raised, but he didn't ask about the sudden awkwardness.

"You've really become a sweet little kitten, Ciel", was all that he said, before he left the room and locked the door behind himself.

The boy shuddered and glared at the locked door, not knowing what to do with all of his frustration.

_"__That damn demon drives me crazy",_ was all that he could come up with, before laying down once again, trying to get some more sleep - this time without all the creepy dreams. _"This whole 'demon pet' and 'Hell'- crap likewise."_

He rolled to his other side and clenched his fist, while slowly trying to find a steadier breathing pace. He wrapped his tail around his body and tried to curl up to a ball as small as possible. Sebastian had threatened him by making promises that he would order Ciel to tell about the dream, but that wasn't a problem for now. Besides, Ciel was too tired to think of any smart comments to save himself with.

Slowly he fell back to sleep, only this time he didn't remember any of the dreams when he woke up.

**_... XX ..._**

**Hei! ^^**

**So... here it is, once again.**

**THANK YOU (sorry for caps, but if I could, I would shout it) for all the _wonderful _support you guys given me! ^^ I've received a few absolutely _adorable_ PMs, _encouraging _reviews and even some new _fabulous_ followers & favorites. I feel the urgent need to hug everyone :)**

**Ah, there is this one guest review by "Yay" I have to mention, since there was some interesting details in it: she/he had noticed that Ciel have the letters of Lucifer and Satan of Sebastian. Coincidence? Maybe, but if you think about it for a second... Lucifer was Satan's name "back then" when he was an Angle of the Lord, but then he fell and became The Devil. Aren't those the perfect portraits for Ciel & Sebastian? The Angle who fell and the Devil who "caught" him. (As a bonus, since they - according to the Old Testament - are the same person, it only proves that Sebastian and Ciel are made for each other, like two pieces completing one another ;) ) Eh, interesting, isn't it? My mind was blown. Am I over-analyzing it? Naah, maybe just a little bit... ^^'**

**And as always, you're welcome to leave some feedback if it feels like it. Stay gold and see you next time ^^ **


	8. Chapter 8

**Reminder:** I'm not native in English and I know it's quite clear by all the grammar mistakes I make, sorry, I'm still working on it.

**Disclaimer: **Eh, I'm not Yana Toboso so naturally I can't own her work... Surprise, surprise, everybody ^^

_**XxX**_

_**.**_

"So Ciel", Carmiza said and smiled over the chess table, "what do you think about Hell?"

The teen didn't react to the question, but inside his head he felt a bit baffled. What was he supposed to answer to that? Should he admit that he hated it or was it better to lie about it? Was he even capable to skilfully act as if he "liked it"?

He grabbed the black knight on the chess table and moved it diagonally across the playfield. He had already planned to take out Carmiza's queen and he hoped that she wouldn't see through his little plot. "It's surprisingly much alike Earth, only that everything is more massive and detailed. The temperatures are a bit troublesome, but I've never been outside the manor, so I really can't tell."

The red haired woman laughed gleefully. She leaned her chin against her gloved palm and looked at Ciel with a very intensive gaze. "Oh, what an objective statement, Ciel. I wanted your _opinion_ about this dimension, not a rant about the pros and the cons." She smiled friendly and moved the white king a step to the left.

The teen was truly confused. What was the demon doing? Did she just randomly move her pieces around or did she have an actual plan? Instead of showing his insecurity, he looked up at her with a bored expression. "I can't say I like it, but it surely could be worse."

Ciel pushed gently his pawn forward and leaned back in the armchair, waiting for Carmiza to hit back. He had always enjoyed games in his human life and playing in Hell was almost as much fun as it had been back then.

"You're right Ciel, it could be a lot worse. You're lucky it was Sebastian who made the contract with you and not someone else." She slowly lifted her queen and held it between her index finger and thumb, closely observing it. "These pieces are truly magnificent, aren't they?"

The teen in front of her nodded. "As I said, everything here is more detailed than on Earth. Demons are really good at creating things, much better than humans." He thought about that time when Sebastian had restored the whole Phantomhive manor in one instant. He realised that it probably had been possible only because he had made a contract with _Sebastian _of all, other demons weren't necessary skilled enough to do such things, at least not so fast.

"Yes, we are", Carmiza admitted and put her queen down, "but it also means that our standards are higher than among humans. The nature of our politics, art and lifestyle is somewhat resembling the mortals', but also different on many levels."

_"__What the hell is she doing?"_ Ciel thought. _"It seems like I'm winning this game… But how can she be this bad at this? I thought demons were better at_ everything_."_

"Hmm…" Ciel took out Carmiza's pawn with his horse. "So… may I ask, have you spent a lot of time on Earth?"

She frowned a bit, but smiled then very cheerfully. "It seems like you have the upper hand in this game, my dear Ciel." She scanned the chess table in a very casual manner and glanced then at the waiting boy. "And to answer your question… Yes, I've spent more time on Earth than in Hell. Most of the demons who have a choice tries to flee this place, at least temporally."

"Why?" Ciel's expression was neutral – almost bored – but something in his eyes flickered. He watched closely Carmiza's gloved fingers move over the table. She had kept moving her pieces in a very strange way the entire game and he had a really bad feeling about it. What was she doing?

"Human souls are our food, Ciel, and we need to eat. We won't get weak, but being hungry makes us even more cruel and unpredictable than what we already are. It's very, very hard to lead others if you yourself are mad and can't even control yourself." Carmiza smiled happily and moved one of her knights to the left, closer to Ciel's queen. "Demons are the only creatures who can make contracts with mortals. For instance, dark spirits are human souls who have sinned unforgivably and necromancers, witches and other beings can't even reach this deep down in the dimension. They say that only The Devil can get down to the basement, if there even is one. I personally doubt it, since Hell at this level is already so chaotic."

Ciel bit his tongue and leaned forward, politely smiling, even though Carmiza had so suddenly changed the subject. "Sebastian was supposed to devour my soul, but he didn't do it. Does that mean that he is going mad with hunger by now?"

"No", Carmiza smiled. Her eyes sparkled with laugh, but she kept herself from letting it out. "Friedrich had also made a contract and Sebastian devoured that soul instead. Friedrich said that he had complained that it didn't taste good enough, though. I guess he would have wanted yours instead."

"Hmm…." Ciel glanced at the game in front of him. Slowly he moved his knight once again. Carmiza had moved her queen away and he couldn't kill it now. Had she done it purposely or was she still randomly moving her chess pieces? Did she know what he was up to? "What about Friedrich hunger then?"

Carmiza waved her hand, gesturing him to stop worrying. "He's fine, really. Sebastian is probably going to allow him to travel to Earth sometime soon again and then he can form a new contract. Friedrich has always been a very stable demon and he almost never complains. He isn't as picky as Sebastian or I either, so I guess he has a lot easier to find suitable preys. He also takes care of the wishes _really _fast, so he can return to Hell."

"I thought you said that demons wants to get away from this place?" Ciel said and raised his eyebrows, following Carmiza's hand with his eyes, when she slowly reached for her pawn.

"Well, usually we do, but only when we're not in love." Carmiza smiled widely and moved her pawn one step forward, exposing it from the vague shelter she had built. "We only fall in love once, Ciel, and when we do, it changes us quite radically. Everything starts to revolve around that one person. Friedrich's dearest is usually in Hell, so it's only natural for him to want to be here too."

It was rather much information at one time. Ciel looked startled at his opponent. Why was she suddenly telling him all this? Friedrich would probably not be too happy about it, if he knew that Carmiza was revealing such secrets to Ciel, who the white haired demon passionately hated. "I-I see."

She nodded at the game, still smiling. "Does it surprise you that demons can fall in love, Ciel, or why are you looking at me like that?"

He shook his head, but didn't say anything, and frowned at the game instead. Well, he was clearly winning, so he could probably take that pawn down without worrying about Carmiza's plots.

When he moved her pawn to the side of the table and gazed her in the eyes, he saw a new look in them. It was quite similar to the one she had given him when they first met, when he had realised she wasn't as harmless as she first appeared to be.

"You couldn't possibly have known, Ciel, but as you said, everything down here in Hell is much more detailed and also much more complex. I've played thousands and thousands of games and some of them never ends, no matter how many pawns I remove or how many queens I make retreat." Carmiza looked down at the game. She moved one of her horses to the left – and suddenly her randomly moved pieces formed a clear pattern. Ciel was trapped and no matter what he did, he would get killed at the first or at least second move. "The trick is to make the opponent think they're the one in control and that they can take risks without losing the whole game. Sometimes sacrifices are necessary…" She glanced at all the chess pieces Ciel had removed during the game, "…but if the price is worth it, then I'm willing to give them."

"Ah", Ciel said and leaned back, carefully not to squeeze his tail in the process, "I wondered about it during the whole game, but now I can see it." He smiled politely at the female demon. "You're really good at playing, I'm not surprised when you say that you've played a lot."

Carmiza laughed, still watching Ciel closely. She leaned her elbows against the chess table and rested her chin on her hand. "Well, like I said, if the price is worth it, I'll do it. Now I won, so it's my right to claim it."

The teen on the other side of the table observed her carefully. "I didn't know we had a price in this game."

"No we didn't, but I invented it just now", Carmiza smiled playfully and chuckled when she saw Ciel's baffled face, "I'll ask you a straight-forward question and you'll answer honestly." She made a very serious expression and lowered her tone, but her eyes sparkled with glee. "You better not lie to me Ciel. I don't like liars, or cowards for the matter, and trust me, I'll know if you try to play any tricks on me."

Ciel gulped. She made it sound quite horrifying and a lot of humiliating questions started to flow through his mind. What could she possibly want to know, that only he could provide the answer to?

"So…" she leaned even closer to the boy in front of her, gesturing him to do the same. When he was close enough, she leaned towards his cat ear, so she could whisper right into it. "I'm really curious and really can't stop myself from asking this…" Her warm breath tickled Ciel. Now he started to feel scared of what was coming. There couldn't be so many things about him that could make her this interested. After all, the only thing that linked her to him was Sebastian.

He knew the oncoming question right before he heard her whisper it. It rung in his ears at least as bad as the command Sebastian had given him only two days earlier – was it really that short time ago? – and he fell back to his armchair with a weird aching in his chest.

What the hell was he going to reply to that? There was no way he could come up with something smart to say, not at least fast enough.

Carmiza smiled gently, carefully observing the boy's face. The emotions in his eyes flickered, but he held gracefully a very neutral expression – it was almost borderline bored. Usually she had a very good hint about what was going to follow of her actions, but this time she had no clue. She could very well understand both Sebastian's frustration and need of this particular mortal – she had never met anything like him and _she was_ known for her obsession with completely mad contractors.

"Well… that was certainly a very interesting question", Ciel said slowly, feeling a very slight blush appear on his otherwise pale cheeks, "and I'm really going to need some time to think about it."

The red haired demon smiled lovably. "I understand, Ciel, please take your time. I'll wait right here with you."

She leaned back into her armchair. There was no escape now and Ciel's mind jumped feverishly from one idea to another. At last he understood, that there really wasn't any way to get away from this, not this time. Carmiza had planned everything very wisely.

A little surprised with himself, Ciel noticed that his mind had already started to process the question Carmiza had given him. He leaned his forehand against his palm and shut his eyes, trying to cope with his overactive mind. Only those little words spun around in his head, making him feel dizzy and unsure about himself.

_"__When are you, Ciel Phantomhive, ready to admit that you love that demon?"_

**_._**

**_XxX_**

**_._**

**Baah, I always tend to end the chapters the same way?! I should probably practice my punchlines or something...**

**So, my exams are over and new period begins. I've been to school for one day and it already feels like I'm not going to get through this... *sigh* Well, fortunately I've written a few chapter already, but now the update speed is going to get _a lot_ slower, sorry... :( ****But now I study English again, so I'll try to focus on it _extra hard_ so my grammar would get a bit better, haha ^^ Languages are difficult, you know :/**

**Anyways, _thank you_ for all the support, I really appreciate it! Hopefully you enjoy this story, I'll try to make it more interesting. I've written up till Ch 12 for now (but I have to edit them a bit more) and for some reason they all feel so... cliche to me. I'll come up with something new when I have time to such luxury, haha, but until then I'll continue the way I've been doing it for now. Hopefully I don't bore you to your death, that would be horrible! O.O''**

**Please review if there's something you want to say, otherwise I'll see you next time again! ^^**


	9. Chapter 9

**Reminder:** note nativ in englesh, i made meny missteakenses. Zorry. (At least I'm not this bad right? Haha. _Right?!_)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kuroshitsuji - Yana Toboso does. There are a few OCs and apparently they all got a very bitchy nature. My subconscious seems to like evil willing people or then I just want others to hate my babies *sniff* Well, I'll just have to love them even more, so they won't feel bad about themselves, haha - after all they're just a little misunderstood.

**_XxxX_**

**_. _**

No, Ciel was definitely not ready to admit that he was in love with his former butler. He suspected that he didn't even like Sebastian in the first place – no, he hated that demon in all probability. But why wasn't he absolutely positive about it?

When he had asked for more time to think, he hadn't done it by his own free will. It was like someone had taken charge over his body, opened his mouth and then made him say those words. He felt like slamming his head against the chess table, scratch his own eyes out and die because of blood loss.

_"__Why did I say that I need more time? Why, oh God, if you exist, now would be a great time to prove it!"_ Ciel shut his eyes. He felt that a terribly painful headache was on its way, ready to blow up his already confused mind. _"I'm not in love with Sebastian! I should tell it to that annoying woman and then walk away! This is too embarrassing, really…"_

But every time Ciel opened his mouth to tell her that he hated Sebastian, no words came out. His tongue froze, as if the air in the room was too cold to let it function properly. Carmiza waited, politely smiling at him, but her eyes sparkled with amusement when she saw Ciel close his mouth once again. He looked like a fish on land, gasping for air.

Carmiza simply loved to baffle people and mess around with them. She always said inappropriate things, made stupid jokes and teased the ones around her. She had loved to play with Sebastian and soon he had learnt to copy her behaviour. It really was thanks to her that he had developed the teasing skills he now mastered so well. Even better than her, actually, and sometimes she wondered if it wasn't he who had taught everything _to her _to begin with.

_"__We probably grow up like that, teaching all the new tricks to each other"_, Carmiza thought, while still observing Ciel and absent-mindedly stroking her green satin dress, _"Sebastian will probably chase me to the end of Hell if he gets to know about this. How much fun, really! It has been so boring with him gone and Friedrich's lack of humour almost took hold of me too."_

Even though she had done it for her own pleasure, the actually curious side of her was starting to take control. She wanted to know what Ciel was thinking, she wanted to know why he hadn't denied the statement already. She had claimed that Ciel was actually _in love_ with Sebastian, but the teen hadn't said anything.

_"__It's almost like he actually have a hard time to say it out aloud", _the female demon thought and leaned back, still smiling at the boy, _"but I certainly didn't expect him to agree with me this fast. I thought Ciel had comforted himself by making himself to hate Sebastian, as so many humans do. Sebastian also always hints that he has a hard time _not to_ beat the crap out of this boy. Is it all an act or are they both stupid?"_

Ciel bit his tongue really hard and as he felt the small, sharp teeth penetrate his rough flesh, he tried to organise his thoughts. Concerning the tongue… well, he hadn't told anyone about it, but it seemed like it had also suffered from "the cat syndrome", as he called it (once again, he really tried to get some order in his existence). He couldn't control it, but sometimes the muscle felt normal and other times it turned rough, like on a cat. It had felt awkward to say anything, since Sebastian would probably want proof for it. The thought about sticking his tongue out so the demon could examine it… Ciel shuddered.

No, he couldn't be in love with Sebastian. It wasn't possible. He disliked that raven haired man; his way of teasing Ciel, his arrogant attitude and his sadistic nature. Ciel would never admit it out loud, but Sebastian managed to actually scare him and the fear of the demon was deeply rooted inside him.

_"__But on the other hand…"_ a small voice whispered in the back of his mind, _"aren't I the same? I tease others, I'm arrogant and I feel satisfied when I see others suffer."_ Ciel felt startled. He wasn't supposed to argue with himself, not about Sebastian at least! _"And the dream. Why dream about Sebastian if I hate him? Why did I take pleasure of him tying me to a chair?"_

Ciel bit his tongue even harder. He tasted his own blood and swallowed it as discreet as he could. Carmiza eyed him, but didn't say anything. The scent of his blood filled the room and she enjoyed it in silence.

"You wanted the truth, right?" Ciel stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I don't know what you think you know, but I'm definitely not going to admit that I love Sebastian, not now or ever. I can't say anything else, because that would be the same as lying to you."

Carmiza stared at him, without saying a word. Her lips were formed into a slight smile and her eyes sparkled with glee, but she gracefully remained silent. She didn't even nod.

"Excuse me then", Ciel said irritated and walked rapidly away. It had been a bad idea to agree to play chess with the red haired demon, one of the worst decisions during Ciel's stay in Hell. She had managed to make his mind a mess and at the same time humiliate him on a very personal level.

_"__Why did she say that? What made her think that I would be in love with Sebastian? It's ridiculous, really. His a demon, after all." _Ciel clenched his fist and started to run. He had memorised the way from his room – no, _Sebastian's bedroom_, of all places – to the living room on the second floor and he didn't have any problems to find his way back.

At least he _wouldn't have had_ any problems to find the right doors, if he hadn't bumped into someone on his way.

"You should watch where you're going, bocchan."

Ciel fell backwards and would have landed on his bum, if that certain _someone_ wouldn't have caught him before that. The teen looked shocked up, pressing his lips and teeth together – Sebastian could see it by the position of Ciel's cheeks and jawline.

"Why are you running around like this?" Sebastian frowned with acted worry. He helped Ciel up, but left his right hand on the boy's shoulder, to secure that he wouldn't try to escape. "Did something happen?"

There was no reply, Ciel only shook his head with a slight blush on his face and kept staring at Sebastian's shoes. The demon noted that the teen didn't relax his jaws and both his ears and tail disclosed that his nerves were on the edge.

The tall, slender man crouched in front of Ciel, taking the boy's face in his gloved hands. Ciel felt the soft fabric brush against his skin and he wondered why Sebastian still dressed like a butler. Surely he owned other clothes and there really weren't any reasons for him to act like he was Ciel's servant anymore.

"Ciel…" Sebastian forced the now gently shaking teen to encounter his gaze. "Answer me."

Ciel swallowed continually. He hoped that he wouldn't have ran into Sebastian. He would have taken on anyone else – Friedrich or even that visitor Sebastian warned about – but no, _of course_ it had to be this one, particular demon.

He opened his mouth and the warm blood started to trail down his chin. He had bit himself far harder that he had first thought. It hurt a lot, but it was nothing compared to the confusion in his head.

He really hated Carmiza in that moment.

Sebastian's eyes widened and they started immediately to turn pink. Ciel tried to back away, but the demon's grip was way too tight and he only managed to squirm around a bit.

"Did you bite yourself?" Sebastian asked surprised. He didn't wait for the answer, but scooped Ciel up in his arms bridal style and carried his fast to the bedroom nearby. "Oh my, someone has been a really naughty kitten."

Ciel flushed bright red and glared at Sebastian, but didn't answer for obvious reasons. Instead he gulped a lot, trying to keep the blood inside his mouth.

Sebastian put the teen down on the large bed and brought quickly a glass of water and some fresh, white cloths. He helped Ciel to drink the water – well, at least try to drink it, since the boy spitted out almost everything, imbruing both himself and the bedspreads – and then softly examined the wound.

The gloves were off in a bat of an eye and he touched the tongue very gently. The surface of the muscle felt rough and Sebastian noticed it was almost like on a real cat. The wound wasn't very wide, but deep. Ciel had almost manage to bite off the end of his own tongue.

"Well, this doesn't look good." He frowned and exposed the inner side of his wrist. In a moment he had bit himself and reached for Ciel, who desperately tried to get away from the demon. "You need my blood. It will heal you."

The teen shook his head and Sebastian started to feel impatient. "Don't try to argue with me. Your tongue is almost in two pieces and yet you refuse to drink. You won't turn into a demon, Ciel, that's a thing for vampires and werewolves. Now, _come here_."

The circle on Sebastian's hand started to glow, as did the mark on Ciel's right eye. The familiar tingling feeling returned and Ciel felt like throwing up – partly because the taste of his own blood was too overwhelming and partly because of the thought that he had to drink Sebastian's blood. Again.

The first time – back then when he had burnt his mouth with the boiling hot water – Sebastian had fed him with demon blood and Ciel had got drunk. The memories of the whole incident were really vague, but it had been embarrassing and disgusting, that was all that he knew. He hadn't have any control over his body – or mind – and he had stumbled, fell and crawled around like a real drunkard.

Sebastian had now commanded him to drink the blood. He had only two choice: to obey or to take the punishment for disobeying. Ciel also knew that if Sebastian really wanted him to drink it, the demon could easily outnumber him and simply _make_ him do it. That would also mean that the absolutely _last_ ounces of Ciel's pride would be gone forever.

Slowly he leaned forward, glaring at the raven haired man and parting his lips. Sebastian had pressed his wrist against the boy's mouth before even one drop of Ciel's blood had managed to escape.

The process was embarrassing in every single way. Ciel had to suck the small wounds Sebastian had made with his sharp teeth and he had to swallow the mix of both his own and the demon's blood. _And he liked it_.

_"__My mind is confused. My senses are confused. I'm confused. That's why I like it. Otherwise I would definitely throw up, I'm sure about it. I'm also wounded and… this blood is really good."_ Ciel's eyes widened a bit. _"What am I thinking? This is horrible! I need… I need to get away, at this instant."_

He tried to turn his head away, but Sebastian took a strong hold of the boy's neck and held him in place. The feeling of Ciel sucking his blood… Sebastian was aroused. There was no other word for it.

At last, it looked like Ciel was going to choke and Sebastian let his arms drop down. His eyes shone brightly and he smiled devilishly. "Open your mouth and let me see your wound."

The teen obeyed, but a bit hesitating. Sebastian checked the sore spot. It had stopped bleeding at looked like it was going to get better. Ciel was lucky that demon blood had that effect on his body, it made medical care so much easier.

He was going to ask how Ciel managed to bite himself that hard and scold the boy for it, but when he looked at his young contractor, he figured that it would be wiser to save the questions for later.

_"__Also about all that blushing earlier",_ Sebastian thought, "_I have to make him talk."_

Ciel's eyes were halfway shut. He yawned and gazed at Sebastian. His mind was dizzy and he couldn't remember why he had been so anxious before. _"Should I ask Sebastian or…? No, probably not. He's going to tease me for forgetting."_

"Sebastian…" he mumbled and crawled closer to the demon. "Sebastian…"

"Yes?" The demon raised his eyebrows. It seemed like the blood had made Ciel completely wasted in less than a minute.

"I… I don't know… She wanted me to confess… and I… I really don't know…" Ciel whispered, even though it was painful. Yet he felt the need to talk to the demon, explain himself. A bright flush had appeared on his cheeks and his eyes showed the real confusion and fear he felt. "Why did she ask me… such things… Sebastian… I feel tired…"

"Then you should sleep, bocchan." Sebastian smiled politely, but confused. There was only one 'she' Ciel knew in the manor and that was Carmiza. Of course he could have met someone else too, but Sebastian highly doubted it, since he had clearly instructed everyone expect for Friedrich to stay out of the teen's way.

_"__Has she messed around with him or what is he talking about?"_ Sebastian thought, as he watched Ciel grab the edge of the butler's coat and fall flat on his stomach on the fluffy bed. _"Or is it some memory he has suddenly remembered?"_

"… don't like… when… don't know… what I feel…" Ciel said. His voice was muffled by the sheets, but Sebastian could still distinguish the words from the sighs. "Sebastian… why do I have… to…? I don't… want to… like you…"

Sebastian stared at the teen next to him. He frowned annoyed. Yes, Carmiza had definitely messed with Ciel's head, it had to be her. The former butler carefully put his gloves on and tucked Ciel under the sheets. The boy continued to mumble things, but they were completely nonsense now and Sebastian ignored it. Soon his contractor had fallen asleep and Sebastian left the room with an uneasy feeling.

He locked the door very carefully and headed then towards the living room on the second floor, the place wherefrom Ciel had come running. He wore an emotionless expression, but his eyes were only fire and flames, swearing to himself that this time he wouldn't let the red haired demon get off lightly.

_**.**_

_**XxxX**_

**Yay, 20k+ words already (not A/Ns included) on this story! ^.^ I've never written something this long in English before ( I think ) ...**

**Thank you**** for your support, it really means a lot to me! ^.^ Hopefully you've enjoyed this little fanfic and will continue to read it :) In next chapter Ciel will have a bad hangover and go through a lot of different emotions... O.o' So stay tuned for the next update!**

**And as I said before; all the reviews, PMs, favs and follows always manages to cheer me up, so please don't hesitate to leave me some feedback if it feels like it! ^.^**


	10. Chapter 10

**Reminder: **I'm not native in English and I do make mistakes as a human being - believe it or not.

**Disclaimer: **Yana Toboso created Kuroshitsuji and all the characters in it. I think we should respect that, eh?

* * *

><p>Ciel lazily opened his left eye. He sensed that he laid on something soft and his body was covered in sweat.<p>

_"__Uh… What happened? Where am I?"_

Slowly he sat up, growling. His head ached and his tongue felt really sore. Gradually he started to remember what had happened last evening… or whatever time of the day it had been before he fell asleep. He had lost control of time since had moved to Sebastian's bedroom, as there was no windows and no temperature changes. He had almost started to yearn for the heath and the cold – it had helped him to keep track on time.

"Good morning, bocchan." Sebastian sat on the other side of the bed, smiling politely. "Did you sleep well?"

Ciel opened his mouth to reply, but his tongue started to hurt even more. He pressed his lips together and nodded. Sebastian continued to stare at the teen, who began to feel very uncomfortable. Slowly he slid down from the bed, just to collapse to his knees.

"It seems like you're still affected by my blood", Sebastian said, frowning, "it's probably better for you to stay in bed until your mind is clear enough to keep you upright and on your own two feet, bocchan."

He lifted the boy easily up on the large bed and then stroke Ciel's messy hair. The boy glared at him, unfocused. While he kept glaring, Sebastian brought him some cold water and helped him to drink it. The more mature man noticed that the boy's hands shook a lot, as if he still was wasted or had a very bad hangover.

_"__I thought it would go over faster than this…"_ Sebastian frowned. _"Did he drink more than I estimated? Perhaps I was a bit too carried away."_

"You should go back to sleep, bocchan. You'll feel better when you've rested a bit." Sebastian put the glass aside and smiled at Ciel, who crossed his arms and glared at the demon. "No? Very well then, if you insist, but try not to hurt yourself."

Ciel continued to glare, but he lost his concentration and his eyes trailed around the room, as if he was searching for something.

"Can you talk?" the raven haired man asked friendly. "I should probably check your tongue."

The teen stiffened a bit. He batted his eyes in confusion, but then opened his mouth. His thoughts were all mixed up and he had no idea about who he was or how he was supposed to act and it made him very distressed. Besides, memories of him sticking out his tongue to let Sebastian look at it filled his mind and he was embarrassed that he had to do it once again. A vague memory of him swearing that he wouldn't let the demon to look around in his mouth… Ciel felt the urgent need to back away, but he was too tired and dizzy to do it.

While Ciel tried not to die of embarrassment, Sebastian examined the wound. It was now completely gone, but instead the muscle was a bit swollen. It was probably very sore, but not as bad as it would have been without the demon blood. He also noticed that the tongue wasn't rough anymore. Could Ciel control the cat-like features he had?

"This should heal soon. Just let it be and don't bite yourself anymore." Sebastian narrowed his eyes to underline the seriousness in his advice. Ciel nodded and shut his eyes, trying to organise his thoughts, but the demon wasn't ready yet. "You said some really interesting things last night."

Ciel opened his eyes again, puzzled. He tried to search for the right memories, those which Sebastian referred to, but instead he started to remember some of his human memories. The picture of Madame Red's face when Grell pierced her with his scythe and all the blood… Ciel shuddered. Why did he remember that, so suddenly? Was it because of the taste of blood in his mouth?

"What?" he asked. His voice cracked and the word was painful to pronounce, but he did his best not to show weakness.

"You told me that you didn't want to like me", Sebastian said teasingly and chuckled, "I have to admit that it was very sweet, bocchan, when you reached out for me, mumbling such things. I didn't know you had a helpless side like that. Or maybe it's just your drunk personality."

Ciel blushed. He was still confused and giddy, but now he started to remember. Oh yes, he really said those things aloud. How embarrassing.

The newfound memories started to clear his mind a bit, but not much. He was still dizzy and unfocused. If his mind had been more understandable, he probably wouldn't have acted the way he did, but now he couldn't help himself.

"Don't tease me… I'm confused…" The tongue began to hurt again and Ciel felt how it slowly started to get rougher. He frowned and gazed at Sebastian, trying to decide what he should say to get the demon to shut up.

"I'm sorry, bocchan, I was rude", Sebastian apologised, his eyes sparkling with ridicule, "but since we're on it, could you please tell me what made you injure yourself that bad?"

Ciel tried really hard to remember. When Carmiza's question returned to his mind, he started to blush all over again. "No, I can't." The rough surface of his tongue slid against his palate and made him grimace.

"No", he repeated, just to make sure that Sebastian had understood.

Sebastian smiled amused. Ciel seemed to be very stubborn with this one. He reached out for the boy's ear and started to slowly caress it. "Hmm… Well, I won't force you to tell me, you're too defenceless for the time being. Instead you could tell me about that dream you had earlier, the one that made you blush so adorably."

The teen tried to wiggle away from the touch, but managed only to collapse right next to his demon contractor. He had forgot a lot of things, but _that_ dream was not one of them and it made him a little upset. Why had it made such a strong impact on him?

"No", he sighed again and gave up. He curled up to a small ball, letting the older man's finger dance between his ears. Once again he felt the overwhelming desire to purr. Ciel shut his eyes and gave in in.

The sound startled Sebastian first, but soon he recovered from the surprise. Ciel was a whole new persona while drunk and it was a very confusing, yet intriguing side of the always so calculating teen. "Yes Ciel, you should tell me. If you don't do it freely, I'll make you and I promise you that you won't like it."

Ciel opened his left eye and gazed up on the man.

_"__How does he manage to act so cat-like and still be human?" _Sebastian thought. He almost felt a little bad for confusing Ciel even more, when it was so obvious that the boy was already a mess, but he couldn't resist it. After all, Ciel was now _his own_ and he could do whatever he wanted to the boy. But still.

"I dreamt…" Ciel shut his eye again and swallowed greatly. His mind was divided and the different parts of his brain shouted at each other, trying to decide whether he should tell the truth or not. The least logic side of him won the argument. "…about you."

Sebastian nearly choked, but didn't say anything.

"It was weird…" Ciel continued and yawned. "…I'm sleepy."

The demon stared at the boy, who had now crawled up in his lap, snuggling against his arm. _"Is he even Ciel anymore or have my blood given him a brain injury?"_

"Then you should sleep, bocchan. Are you sure this is a good position to…"

"Yes", Ciel whispered softly, "this is comfortable." He pressed his small body against Sebastian's, feeling a sudden safety. Unconsciously he knew that he could trust this man - it would be alright to let the guard down and fall asleep next to him. Insecurity and fear had followed him ever since his parents had died and he had been captured by those hooded men. If he hadn't been so dizzy, he would probably been grateful that he had for the first time in many_, many _years felt absolutely safe.

Sebastian rested gently his hand on the boy's back. His face was completely emotionless, but his eyes had begun to grow pink, once again. It seemed like he had completely lost control over his desires and the way he showed them.

_"__It's exactly like Carmiza said…"_ he thought, _"I really can't keep myself from wanting him. Have Friedrich _always _felt like this?" _Sebastian felt almost bad for his subordinate.

Suddenly, there was a loud slam somewhere, not far from the bedroom. Sebastian stiffened and turned his head, ready to meet whoever had invaded the manor. He was just about to move Ciel, when he heard the door to the bedroom open with a loud knock.

Ciel jumped up, hissing and wildly staring around, trying to find the source of the threat.

In the doorway, there stood a young woman with blonde hair and a tattered, frilly and bright pink dress. In her hand she had a long sword, which she now pointed at Sebastian with a furious expression on her face. Her eyes were on fire and she looked like an aggressive animal. Then her gaze found Ciel and her whole appearance changed – her jaw dropped as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

_"__..Ciel…?"_ the girl asked confused, lowering her sword.

Sebastian clenched his teeth, but didn't move. Ciel relaxed slowly and sat down next to the raven haired demon. His eyes showed his confusion and fear. He wasn't as dizzy as before anymore.

_"…__Li-lizzie..?"_

* * *

><p><strong>Hello there! ^.^<strong>

**So, it seems like I've messed up with the contract marks, but now I've edited all the already published chapters and will continue with this new (and right) way:**

**Sebastian has the circle brand on his ****_left_**** hand, while Ciel has his on his ****_right_**** eye. I've been writing the other way around for some reason, even though I checked the facts before I began the story... Oh well, I make mistakes, but now I've updated all the previous chapters and it should be the right way now... I think ^^'**

**About**** Lizzie:**** There will be an explanation what she does in Hell, she doesn't just "randomly appear" there, so please don't abandon this story now, haha ^^ I've come up with some compromises (for those who hate her) and I hope you'll like it even if you wouldn't be her biggest fan... :D**

**I figured that she was quite a big part of Ciel's human life and she even got the suitable personality for the following events - after all her husband-to-be was pretty much her whole life, right? Soo... yeah, there will be an explanation, this isn't me pulling some random trick "just because I can" (well, in a way it actually is "because I can", but I mean... ugh, you got it, eh?).**

_**Thank**_**_ you_ for all the support you guys have given me, it's really, _really_ appreciated! ^^ Love you all ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Reminder: **I don't speak English as my native language and the text I produce takes after it. Thank you for understanding and please correct me if you find any ridiculous pattern or weird errors.

**Disclaimer: **I'm not Yana Toboso, therefore I can't own Kuroshitsuji. What I _do_ own is the OCs and also the design of the dimensions in this story.

**Please note that both Ciel and Lizzie are older in this fanfic than in the original works and therefore their personalities aren't the same. Besides; Lizzie has come down to Hell and it wasn't because she heard the rumours that there would be this absolutely amazing, super girly tea party. Her usual "cute and all pink" attitude isn't very present in this particular fanfic, sorry.**

**xx**

**.**

"Lizzie?" Ciel asked and tried to get off the bed. "What are you doi-… Uaagh!"

The girl in her shabby pink dress hit him with her sword shaft, knocking him unconscious. Sebastian made sure his contractor wasn't dead and then grabbed the sword between his index and middle finger, coldly meeting the girl's bewildered gaze.

"Miss Elizabeth, could you please not try to kill bocchan. I'm afraid he isn't in the shape to battle with you right now."

Elizabeth's gaze travelled down to the young man lying on the floor. Her eyes started to water, yet she glared hatefully at the raven haired man in front of her. She couldn't believe that Sebastian had done something this humiliating to her beloved Ciel – no, it had to be a very bad joke from the demon's side!

"That isn't Ciel! He didn't have ears and a tail like that when I saw him the last time. You devoured his soul and… and made his body your doll! It has to be like that!" She pulled her sword back to her side and Sebastian let it go. Furiously she showed her teeth in an aggressive grimace and took a position ready to attack him. "I despise you, Sebastian Michaelis!"

Sebastian pressed his lips together, trying not to grimace. He stood next to the boy on the floor, prepared to keep Elizabeth away if it was needed. "I don't doubt that for even one second, but if we…"

A loud cry was heard from the hallway. Both Sebastian and Elizabeth flinched and they both glared out of the wide opened doors.

_"__It seems like this annoying show is only going to get worse", _Sebastian thought and sighed inwardly.

"Miss Elizabeth, please wait! You shouldn't have ran away like that…"

Compared to the current dissatisfaction raging in both Sebastian's mind and body, the irritation over meeting Elizabeth in his own manor had been pure happiness and love. He frowned a little bit, but his eyes had darkened the way that only an angry demon's could.

A red haired man ran into the bedroom, almost tripping on Elizabeth's dress. She glared at the tall man behind her, but focused then on Sebastian, who had crossed his arm just to prevent himself from strangling someone. Their gazes met and for a very short split second they empathized with each other.

Then the moment was over and Elizabeth opened her mouth before the red haired male had any time to recover from his sudden surprise and shakiness, caused by seeing is "one and only true love" after a few months break. "We've come to kill you, Sebastian." She pointed her sword against the demon, with complete seriousness.

"What?" The man behind her cried horrified. "Miss Elizabeth, you never told any of this to me… I feel cheated on!"

The young woman moved one of her blonde ponytails to the side, out of her way. "You wouldn't have brought me here if I had told you." Then she continued to glare at Sebastian. "So… what did you do to _the real_ Ciel?"

The raven haired demon glared at the red haired man. If Elizabeth hadn't drawn another sword from inside her dress and put it in the way for the tall, weirdly clothed man, Sebastian would most like have been assaulted by now.

"I'm right here…" Ciel muttered, his tongue still hurting a bit. Slowly he crawled up, batting his eyes, trying to focus on his environment. "What is this all about…? Sebastian, I…"

The confused teen fell down once again, but this time Sebastian caught him in time. He gently helped Ciel to sit on the bed, so the boy wouldn't collapse all over again. Elizabeth stared at Ciel and then on Sebastian. The red haired man behind her tried desperately get past her – so he could hug the demon – but she didn't let him through.

"Ciel?" she asked with a small voice. Her eyes were filled with tears. Could it really be him or was she only imagining things? Was this her desperate hopes pulling tricks on her mind? Confused she lowered her swords – now letting the red haired man to enter the bedroom properly. "Is it really you?"

He nodded and she couldn't restrain herself anymore, but dropped her swords and threw herself over him, hugging him tightly and crying loudly. "Ciel! I thought that you… that you were devoured! I'm so happy, Cie-e-el…!"

Sebastian would have stopped the young woman from hugging his contractor to his death, if he hadn't been attacked too. The red haired man had took a strong hold of him and was now rubbing his face and hair against Sebastian's chest.

"Oh, Sebby! What a lovely reunion for both couples… You have no idea how much I've missed you! And I must say that I really like…"

"Grell Sutcliff", Sebastian interrupted annoyed and pushed the Shinigami away, "I haven't missed you at all."

"Sebby, you're always so cold…" Grell pouted a little, but then he struck his hands together, smiling so widely that he revealed his small, pointy teeth, while trying to take one of his most appealing poses "you really know how to turn me on! I bet all the other ladies here are dying for you, but I have had faith in you, knowing that you wouldn't cheat on me. Right, Sebby?" The man batted his eyes in an attempt to look innocent.

The demon didn't lose his face, not even the slightest. _"This is such a nuisance, really. Of course I should have calculated that Elizabeth and this idiot would come up with a way to track us down. I can't even be in Hell anymore, not without having all of them following me like dumb ducklings."_

"You're not a lady and I'm not a cheater," was all that he said, before he smacked Grell in the stomach so hard that the Shinigami flew out of the room and crashed in the hallway outside.

Elizabeth's tears had wetted down both Ciel's face and shirt, but he didn't mind. Instead he hugged her back – a little awkwardly – and tried to calm her down, but she didn't listen to him. "Ciel! I thought he ate your soul…!"

"Uh, Lizzie…?" He touched briefly her hair and looked at her tattered dress. "What happened…? How did you come here?"

Elizabeth dried her tears with the back of her hands and looked thankfully at him. "It doesn't matter… I'm just so happy that you're here!" Then she threw herself all over him once again and nearly hit him in the process. "I was so sure your soul was gone and I had to revenge you…"

"Lizzie…" Ciel patted awkwardly her on her shoulder, not knowing what else to do. Sebastian came to his rescue, separating the two of them.

"Well, it seems like I won't get rid of you at once, so I'll just have to come up with something else." He touched his forehead and shut his eyes for a short moment, sighing. "How troublesome. Our guest will arrive soon enough and I can't have you running around like this."

"Guest?" Elizabeth asked confused, still trying to reach for Ciel, who was clearly out of his breath. "What guest?"

"Someone who wants to meet both me and Ciel is coming from quite far away", Sebastian enlightened her with an irritated expression, "I must explain your visit somehow… But first you have to change clothes, Miss Elizabeth. Your dress is not in representative condition."

"Oh?" Elizabeth looked down on the frilly, pink clothes and frowned. "I must have ripped it when I run from Grell and past the guards…"

"What guards?" Sebastian muttered lowly, but smiled then as politely as always. "Bocchan isn't feeling so well today, but I'm sure he'll want to talk to you soon again. If you please could follow me and…"

"No!" Elizabeth managed to get around Sebastian and hugged Ciel tightly, almost making him to pass out. "I've just found him and he still have these weird ears and tail attached to him. Besides, I've come to take my revenge on you, Sebastian!"

"Your revenge…?" Ciel asked, muffled by his former fiancée's hair. He still felt dizzy and a bit unfocused, affected by Sebastian's blood and the sudden violent reunion with his former wife-to-be. "Lizzie, what did you…?"

"I can assure you that nothing will happen to him while you change clothes", Sebastian said intently, "and I will answer all your questions as soon as you stop to threaten me, Miss Elizabeth."

Elizabeth frowned, not sure what to do. She looked at Ciel, who gazed distantly at her. His eyes were out-of-focus and he looked like he was on his way to lose consciousness once again. "I'm really sorry, Ciel, I shouldn't have hit you."

She climbed down from the bed and picked up her swords, firmly holding them in each hand. She glared at Sebastian, who wore an emotionless expression while observing her movements.

"Alright", Elizabeth said and glanced at Ciel, who had a hard time to follow the discussion, "but how can you guarantee me that you won't try to kill me?"

"If that was my intention, I would have done it by now", Sebastian replied coldly and showed the way out of the room, "are you following by your own or do I have to carry you? Bocchan needs to rest."

"Sebby…" Grell laid on the floor, trying to reach for Sebastian's shoe. The demon sighed and stepped further away.

"This applies to you too, Grell. I'll show you the way."

"Oh, Sebby, how romantic!" The red haired Shinigami sprung on his feet and took one of his most attractive poses. "Please show me _everything_."

"Lizzie…" Ciel whispered. Elizabeth gazed at him one last time, before following after the former butler.

"Don't worry, Ciel, I will save you. After all, I'm your wife." Elizabeth smiled widely and then left the room. Sebastian didn't even flinch when he closed and locked the doors behind them.

He turned around to look at the two others and sighed. "Very well, then, this way please…"

"Not before you explain yourself!" Elizabeth crossed her arms and glared at the demon, while Grell pouted at the young woman.

"Miss Elizabeth, don't be so rude towards my belov-…"

"I'll do it, as I promised, but not here. You endanger bocchan's safety unnecessarily by wearing that attention seeking dress. First you have to change clothes and then we'll talk."

Elizabeth thought about it for a short moment, then she nodded and started to follow Sebastian. After all she was here to help Ciel – not to make it worse. She couldn't be completely sure about trusting Sebastian, but it was true what he had said; he _could_ have killed her already and it seemed like he had left Ciel's poor soul alone. Both Elizabeth and Sebastian ignored Grell who danced around them, while trying to break the tensed atmosphere. It really seemed like he wasn't very bright or had any situational awareness to speak of.

Ciel sat alone in the bedroom, staring at the locked wooden double doors. He tried really hard not to fall asleep, but couldn't fight it for long anymore. He had no energy left and his tongue had started to hurt even more than before after all the talking he had been doing.

"Wife?" he echoed confused. He couldn't remember that he would have married the blonde girl at any point in his human life. "Lizzie, you shouldn't have…" he mumbled sadly, while unwillingly collapsing to the floor. He had drifted away to his dreamland before his head had hit the ground, his mind leaving him like a soul leaves its dead vessel.

**.**

**xx**

**Hei! ^^**

**Here I'm again, with my A/N, haha. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and please review if there's anything you want to say (= also constructive criticism is very welcome, I'm not the type who gets offended by crit. Nobody's perfect and we're all here to improve, eh? :) )**

**I hope Lizzie's appearance isn't a huge "no no" for you :( Personally I don't have anything against her, she's pretty badass sometimes (at least in the manga, which I mainly follow [expect for Claude and Alois. I just took the characters from the anime, because I can, hahaa]) when she handles those swords and kicks ass -^.^- haha. But hey, it says "Sebastian x Ciel" in the summary and that's not going to change. I think it speaks for itself.**

**And then... _Thank you_ for all the favs, follows & reviews you guys been sprinkling over me ^^ I'm very touched *sniff* See you in the next update then ^^ (If FF wouldn't be down next time I'm about to post... sigh. Well at least they fixed it in the end, and that's what matters, right? :) )**


	12. Chapter 12

**_Reminder: _**_I'm not native in English and I'm very sorry for all the errors in the text. Please correct me if it feels like it._

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own Kuroshitsuji - it's all Yana Toboso's_

**XX**

_"__Sebby!"_

Grell ran into the living room and pounced upon Sebastian, who wore a tortured expression. Carmiza chuckled maliciously in the corner of the plush couch, stroking her blue dress and observing everyone in the spacious living room. It was decorated in rather light colours – which wasn't very Sebastian-like – but even here there were a few burning plants standing in the corners, making the atmosphere heavier and somehow gloomier.

While Sebastian tried to keep Grell on a safe distance, Ciel sat at the chess tabled together with Elizabeth, who drank water from a tea cup in a well-mannered way. He leaned his chin against his palm and looked at his ex- wife-to-be.

"I made a deal with Grell", Elizabeth explained and put her cup down on the playfield, gleefully smiling at the young man on the other side of the table, "and he brought me here."

"And he agreed to take you to Hell?" Ciel questioned with a worried expression. "Lizzie, you shouldn't have come here. You inherited all of my goods and even the Funtom-company. You don't need me."

Elizabeth pouted. Her eyes darkened a bit. "Don't say that, Ciel. You make it sound so horrible, as if I only cared about your money!"

Ciel looked surprised. "I'm sorry, Lizzie, but I still think you should have let it go. You don't have to marry anyone else either, I made sure of it, but if you want to do it, there's no one stopping you."

"But", Elizabeth clenched her fist, "I wanted _you_, Ciel. I wanted to make you happy!" She looked away and blinked the tears out of her eyes. "No one else can replace you. Besides, now all money-diggers are going to come after _me_."

Her former fiancé didn't answer. _"It would have been better if she hadn't found me like this",_ Ciel thought, _"I don't know what Sebastian said to her, but she hasn't asked anything about my cat features. He must have told her something. I can see it in her eyes, she's sad because I've changed. Again."_

Ciel's gaze travelled across the room. For a short moment he made eye-contact with an annoyed Friedrich, then he saw a cheerfully smiling Carmiza and last – but not least – Grell who hugged Sebastian so tightly both of them would probably had died if they were ordinary humans.

He frowned a little bit, but glared then down at his tail, which had wrapped itself around his left foot. He didn't like Grell hugging his former butler, but on the other hand he didn't like anything Grell did.

Carmiza observed Ciel's behaviour and then turned to look at Friedrich, who nodded slightly. He glared at Grell and his protector, but let them be. His jealousy and annoyance didn't matter – it was the lack of emotions in Ciel's eyes and Sebastian continuously growing anger what made the real problem.

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"What do you want me to say?" Ciel sighed. "Do you want to hear that I'm sorry that I died before I took my revenge? Yes, I am sorry about it and angry too. Do you want me to apologise for making a contract with Sebastian?" Ciel shut his eyes and rubbed his right ear. Was he even sorry about that, in the end? He opened his eyes again. "I would probably have died that night if I hadn't summoned him there, Lizzie. I wouldn't have returned at all. But if you want me to be sorry about it, then I'll be, so you can return home and continue your life in peace. I'm already dead, anyways."

Elizabeth's eyes grow wider. "Ciel, in fact I'm…" She opened her mouth to continue the sentence, but Friedrich appeared next to her, right before she had the time to say anything.

"Are you thirsty?" He asked and looked from Elizabeth's empty cup to Ciel's. "I could bring you some more water."

Ciel glared at Friedrich, but Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "Yes please, I'm still thirsty."

Friedrich smiled and ruffled his hair, which made Ciel to raise one of his eyebrows. He had never before seen Friedrich smile and it was a truly strange experience; even though the white haired man was very handsome exactly like all the other demons, he was downright _strikingly beautiful_ when he did something about the grumpy appearance of his.

"Do you want some too, Ciel?"

The boy woke up from his weird daydream-like state and nodded silently.

"Very well, then." Friedrich turned around and disappeared in a flash, just to return a few seconds later. In his hands he held a Chinese porcelain teapot filled with new, cool water. "Please be careful, it's very cold."

He served both teens and smiled again. "Is there anything else you need? I've got some spare time on my hands and would love to help you out."

_"__He would?"_ Ciel thought sarcastically. _"I highly doubt it."_ Then he remembered something – the things Carmiza had said during their chess game. _"I wonder who the one he has fallen for is. I have troubles to imagine Friedrich love anyone at all. All he does is serve Sebastian, it's like he have devoted his life to it. He even threatened me and said I was supposed to be like that too… Wait-… How can I have been this stupid and blind?"_

Ciel's gaze travelled from Friedrich to Sebastian, who pushed a desperate Grell away from himself. Friedrich followed the motion of the boy's eyes, as if he knew what Ciel had concluded just now. He smiled still when they made eye-contact.

_"__I'm really stupid, aren't I?"_ Ciel looked down at the cup when Friedrich poured the water in it, breaking the sudden awkward gaze. Elizabeth thanked him gleefully and began immediately to sip the cool water. She grimaced slightly when the coldness reached her brain and Friedrich asked her if she was alright. _"They've all been hinting about it, but no one ever said it out aloud."_ He glanced at the white haired demon, who smiled politely to the blonde girl. _"Does he think that I'm his rival? Does Sebastian… love Friedrich too?"_ Ciel gulped and frowned. _"So what if they have something going on between them… It doesn't concern me. I shouldn't care about it and definitely not sit around and _think about _the two of them."_

"Are you feeling good, Ciel?" Friedrich asked with slightly narrowed eyes. "You became so silent, suddenly."

"Yeah", Ciel straightened his back and let go of his ear – which he now realised that he had been clenching the whole time – and relaxed his tail to seem more confident, "I just… remembered something."

"Hm", Friedrich said and put the teapot on another table, "wasn't it a pleasant memory?"

"My aunt's death", he lied and met Friedrich gaze with a neutral expression, "it happened right before my eyes." He nodded towards Grell. "By that guy over there, he who does his best to seduce Sebastian."

"Ah…" was all that Friedrich got to say, before Lizzie spit out all of her water and cried out.

"What?" she stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Ciel Phantomhive, how many things have you been hiding from me? I was supposed to be your wife one day!"

"Eh?" Ciel looked confused at Elizabeth, then he leaned back in the armchair. "Ah, that. I didn't want to worry you more after you found out I've made a contract with a demon… Sebastian, I mean."

Friedrich glared at Ciel and Grell had now taken a break of harassing Sebastian, who raised his eyebrows at his contractor. Even Carmiza had stopped her smiling and instead began to stare at Elizabeth, who did her best to scold her ex-fiancé.

"Of course I worry about you!" She stood up straight with both of her hands at her sides and fists clenched. "We were _engaged_, Ciel, no, actually we still are. How can you be so arrogant, even when you're in a state like this? I came to _save you_ and you don't even try to help yourself. I did _everything_ for you and you… you… just sit here and accept it all. Sebastian told me everything, how the contract shifted and you lost your control over him. All I ever asked for was to be able to make you happy, but you don't care, because you don't think I'm worth your time. No, you don't think _anyone_ is worth your time!"

She turned around and ran out of the living room. Ciel stared chocked after her frilly black dress and swinging ponytails. This was the first time he had seen her wear something dark like that and he had to admit that it suited her. She looked so much older and mature now, he realised. He had been completely consumed by his desire for revenge, forgetting all the other important things in his life. He hadn't even noticed that Elizabeth had grown to a beautiful woman and all.

"Li-lizzie…" Ciel shut his eyes and leaned his head against his palm. "I'm sorry."

"Should I go after her?" Friedrich asked quietly.

Ciel opened his eyes again and gazed at the white haired man. Friedrich didn't laugh or chuckle – not even smirk a little. He only waited for the teen to answer.

"No." Ciel shook his head and rose. "I should go."

"No you shouldn't", Carmiza said from the other side of the room. She had narrowed her eyes and watched closely Sebastian's emotionless face, "she probably need some time to think it over. It has been quite emotional for her. To be fair, she thought that Sebastian already devoured your soul and the only thing she would find down here was a very satisfied demon. Instead she finds you, with ears and a tail. Besides, you even insisted that you didn't wanted to see her, which was probably one of the last things she wanted to hear from her most precious person."

"It would have been better for her not to see me like this", Ciel muttered and stood up. It seemed like Carmiza wanted him to feel bad about himself and to his shame, she had managed to complete her goal.

"Yes, but you shouldn't have said that, Ciel", Carmiza said and sighed. In a fast flash she had run to the door, where she turned around and smiled cheerfully at the others, "I'll find her and talk to her." Then she frowned. "Grell, you should come too."

"Me?" The red haired Shinigami looked surprised. "Why?"

"You helped her to Hell in the first place", Sebastian said and pushed the other man further away from himself, "she is your responsibility."

"Eh?" Grell cried out.

"How about this", Carmiza said and smirked devilishly, "you come and help me talk to Miss Elizabeth. When she has calmed down and fallen asleep, I'll tell you a few things about Sebastian?"

Grell frowned and glanced at Sebastian and then Ciel. The raven haired man didn't look all too happy about his female friend's declaration, but didn't interfere. He needed to get Grell away from himself and if Carmiza wanted payback after his furious attack on her, there was nothing he could do about it. He had played this game too many times and in his defence he had tried to revenge for _Ciel's_ sake. That boy had truly been a mess after she had played around with his mind.

"We are childhood friends and I know _everything_ about him", Carmiza convinced the Shinigami, "you can ask me anything and I would know the answer to it." She laughed a bit. "We've been engaged too, a long time ago. A strictly political decision, of course", she added as a side-note, glancing at a very irritated Friedrich and a startled Ciel, "since it benefitted both of our districts."

Grell looked puzzled for a moment, then he cheered up. "I could ask you anything?"

Carmiza smiled widely. "Absolutely anything and I know the answer to it, as long as it's about our dear Sebastian."

The Shinigami blew a kiss to an annoyed Sebastian and winked to Ciel, then he ran over to the red haired demon. "I know that we'll get greatly along", he said and laughed a little nervously, "let's go and find Miss Elizabeth then!"

The female demon nodded and laughed gleefully, waving at the others, especially Sebastian. "See you, boys."

Ciel – who hadn't noted the tension between Sebastian and Carmiza - sat down in the armchair, glaring at the men left in the room together with him. He didn't like to be alone with only the two of them – it felt a little bit too awkward, even for him. When no one said anything or even moved (Ciel doubted that neither of the demons even breathed) he cleared his throat and looked at Friedrich and then at Sebastian.

"So… how long have the two of you been dating…?"

**XX**

**Hello there ^^**

**I'm proud of myself - I've managed to keep up the updating pace even with all the school work :) Yay! Let's hope I can continue like this...**

**This chapter is a bit of a "filler" or something... But it's needed, if I skipped this scene, the following events would be very chaotic, hahaa :D And Ciel does a lot of brain-work here, doesn't he, eeeh? ^^**

** Any~ways~ _THANK YOU _for all the PMs, reviews, favs & follows :3 They're all very appreciated and I would hug each and everyone of you if I could -^.^- Have some cookies ;)**

**[As a side-note: I'm a bit puzzled about everyone _panicking_ about how many reviews their stories have... What's the deal about them now again? Do they rank your story somehow, are they like some kind of measure or what? I'm probably missing the obvious or maybe I'm just plain stupid, but I care a lot more about the amount of _actual readers_. Like, if many people read the story, they probably like it or find it interesting, right (=my story can't be a major failure, since someone cares) ? I don't mean I wouldn't love the reviews, _of course_ I do, but why does everybody "fish" for them? Oh well, maybe I'm just weird, but I _really_ don't get it... :( ]**


	13. Chapter 13

**Reminder: **I am not native in English and because of that, I'm not able to express myself very versatile, or correctly for the matter. It's quite sad, actually, but I'm working on it. Please correct me if it feels like it!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kuroshitsuji :,(

**lll**

"Dating?" Friedrich echoed, not being able to believe his ears. He looked genuinely confused at Sebastian and then at a very embarrassed Ciel. "What makes you think that we would be dating?"

The raven haired demon walked over to the other two. He only looked at Friedrich, not even glancing at Ciel. "A very interesting question, isn't it?" His subordinate nodded slowly while his gaze travelled from one of them to the other. "Friedrich could you please leave us alone?"

The other demon ruffled his white hair and frowned. "Of course I could, but Sebastian, I'm not sure if it's wise to…"

"Yes", Sebastian interrupted, "I believe that I should have a quick talk with bocchan. Our guest arrives here in any minute now and I would really appreciate it, if you could make sure that he'll have the best first impression possible. I also suggest you secure Carmiza, Miss Elizabeth and that red haired idiot, so they won't do anything stupid."

"You shouldn't talk about your guests like that, Sebastian", Friedrich scolded the older man with a strict face and then he bowed slightly, "but I'll do what I can." The white haired man glanced at Ciel from the corner of his eye and walked away. "I'll inform you first when his here."

"Thank you, Friedrich."

Ciel stood up and looked at Sebastian with an arrogant expression, but in his mind he damned himself for doing such an impulsive move. Hadn't he all his life tried not to do any stupid decisions or say something inappropriate? He shouldn't have let his guard down, not even now when he was in Hell and Sebastian was more or less in charge of him. Ciel Phantomhive, the only one left of the family who served as the Queen's watchdog, was officially losing his grip of his own life (well, to be fair, he had been losing it ever since his soul came down to Hell, but Ciel preferred not to admit it).

Sebastian turned around and stared down at his contractor. Slowly he raised one of his eyebrows, smirking. "Do your sudden interest of my relationship with my underling have something to do with your confession of not wanting to like me?"

The teen tried his best not to look embarrassed, but a very slight blush betrayed him. Sebastian could hear Ciel's rapid heartbeats, but he didn't let the boy know about it - it would probably just make him feel even poorer. Sebastian was a sadistic demon and all, but he wasn't completely cold hearted. Besides he had far worse plans for Ciel and it would be very boring if the teen was to give up this early.

"I really don't care", Ciel replied and looked away, making his appearance as uninterested as he could, "it just came to my mind. It seems like Friedrich doesn't like the attention you've given me."

The raven haired man chuckled. "Well… Do _you _like it?"

"What?" The blush on Ciel's cheeks became even deeper. "No! No, I don't! I've already told you that I couldn't care less about what you're going to do to me."

"You don't?" Sebastian's eyes began slowly to shift into a lighter pink colour. His smile grow a little bit wider.

"No!" Ciel glared at his demon contractor. "It makes absolutely no different to me what you do or think, no matter if it's about me or someone else."

"Oh my", Sebastian whispered in a low, thick voice, only loud enough for Ciel to hear it, "then you won't mind if I do this…"

Ciel felt strong fingers wrap around his wrist and then he was pulled forward in a very forceful movement. He collided with Sebastian's chest and whined when he felt the painful stretch in his right side, caused by Sebastian almost dangling him by the hand of his. Ciel cursed silently about his short height and tried hard to balance on the tip of his toes.

"…and this." Parts of his abdomen was shown when his thin and short shirt slid up. Ciel wiggled a little, trying to get away from the grip when Sebastian let his fingers lightly glide over his uncovered body. They danced skilfully in under the shirt, softly brushing his skin. "Are you still indifferent, bocchan? Do you have any in objections or is it fine with you if I continue doing this?"

"No", Ciel answered, now panting a little, still trying to get away from Sebastian.

The demon pulled the teen closer to himself and bent down to whisper in Ciel's cat ear, still holding the other's hand in a firm grip high in the air. "No… what? Should I continue or not?"

"It… it doesn't matter", Ciel answered in a desperate voice. He wanted to order Sebastian to let him go, but that would be the same as admitting that he actually cared about himself, that there still were things that mattered to him. Ciel didn't want to give that satisfaction to that darn demon, so he endured all the feelings washing through him.

Sebastian laughed softly. Gently he explored Ciel's ribcage with his long, slender fingers, making sure that it would tickle and sweep _exactly_ as teasingly as he wanted it to. "To be honest, I _never_ though you would be this amenable so fast, but that only proves how _successfully _I've chosen my pet."

He knew how hard it was for Ciel to admit his inferiority and he wanted the young male to react to his words as bluntly as possible. It was very hard to trick the boy out of his shell, but Sebastian had soon found out which ways were the fastest to break the facade: when Ciel was drunk, annoyed, embarrassed and angry or a combination of those. The usual, calculating teen would step aside for a moment, revealing Ciel's softer and gentler personality. He had learnt how to skilfully hide it, but Sebastian wouldn't be satisfied just with an act – he wanted the real thing, the very core of the boy's most personal space.

"I asked you before to stop playing with me", Ciel said weakly. Inside his head all the different voices of his personality shouted at each other, trying to command him to do everything at once. He knew that he sounded far too weak to be taken seriously, but he couldn't help himself. The memory of the dream where Sebastian touched him – a lot like he did now – returned and made Ciel even more uncomfortable than what he already was.

"I considered your request", Sebastian whispered and slid his hand around Ciel's waist, to the boy's small behind. He rubbed small circles on Ciel's lower back, between the hip bones and felt the teen shiver unwillingly, "but I came to the conclusion that you didn't ask me nicely enough."

A small moan escaped Ciel's lips, making him even angrier than before. _"I can't like this! No, Ciel, no!"_ He shut his eyes and tried to take control over his breath. _"I can't like Sebastian, I can't like the things he does to me. No, I won't admit that I actually care, he would be too pleased with himself…"_

"But since you don't care", the demon continued and snickered, "it really doesn't matter." His hand left Ciel's torso and he grabbed Ciel's chin instead, gently rubbing his thumb against the boy's thin lips. He exposed his sharp teeth and smiled smugly. "Even though I'm not going to fulfil your request to stop playing around, on the other hand I _am_ going to carry out your _demand_."

"What?" Ciel whimpered helplessly. Sebastian smirked devilishly, when his hand found its way into the boys cut short hair and neck. Soon he began to very lightly touch his contractor's catlike ear, making it flick.

"_The one where you demanded me to_ _torture you, in case that's what demons usually do to their pets."_ Sebastian whispered in a very low, teasing voice. "I've decided what I want to do with you, _bocchan_."

Ciel inhaled sharply and in the next moment he sat on the floor. Startled he looked up, just to find Sebastian stare towards the shut door across the room. _"Why did he let me go?"_

"He has arrived", Friedrich announced right after opening the door.

"Good", Sebastian said in a business-like tone, "please show him his room and then do a quick tour around the manor. Make it brief, Friedrich." Sebastian narrowed his eyes and his subordinate nodded quietly.

The white haired man had laid eyes on the panting boy next to his protector and his eyes flashed pink and became dark immediately after that. He left without saying anything else and Sebastian focused on the teen at his feet.

"You haven't bathed in a while, bocchan", the demon said innocently smiling, "and now we're having guests. After all, you are mine, which means that you represent me in all official occasions. What will other demons think about me, if I can't keep my pet clean and in good shape? They would most likely try to snatch my district from me and keeping them away would only bring unnecessary work for me. It would be very shameful if I wouldn't have any time to spend with you, _bocchan_."

He offered his left hand – the one with the contract mark - to Ciel and smiled politely. The boy hissed, but not very credibly, since he still was a bit short of breath. "I'm not your…"

"Sch." Sebastian had crouched down next to his contractor and gently pressed his index finger against the boy's lips. "Don't make me irritated right now. It went so good this far, it would be a shame to ruin everything."

He rose again, still stretching out his hand. "We'll try this again. Get up and come with me, I need you to wash yourself." The contract mark in Ciel's right eye started to glow, as did the circle on Sebastian gloved hand. "Now."

Ciel pulled a disgusted face and rose by himself, without even considering to rely on the raven haired man's help. Sebastian's hand fell softly to his side and he snickered lowly to himself. _"Oh my, it seems like he's angry with me, again."_

"Good. Please follow me." He smiled innocently at Ciel, as he forced his own eyes to go back to crimson red. It was hard, but Sebastian had been practicing it and gained more control over the instinctive changes in his eye colour. "It would be very inconvenient if we were to meet him in the hallway when you're in a condition like that. I should have thought about it earlier, but you were in such a pitiful state after your talk with Carmiza, so I didn't want to bother you."

The teen was clearly frustrated, but did nothing but nodded with - yet again - acted pride. Sebastian smiled as sweet as he could, as he opened the door and let Ciel out of the room. "Oh, and I feel like I have to clarify this to you, since you seemed so anxious about it… Friedrich isn't dating anyone and neither am I."

The boy shivered and avoided to look at Sebastian as long as he could, which made the older man to smirk even wider. It happened rarely that he managed to have this much fun – and in Hell of all places. What an interesting creature Ciel was; it seemed like there was no such thing as "knowing the boy from inside out".

**lll**

**Hello :)**

**It's been three days since Ciel's bath O.o' Considering all the blood he has bled and sweating he has been doing, it's definitely time to rinse it off ^^**

**Thank you for all the support once again ^^ I hope you enjoy this little fic, even though the chapters are really short. I don't know how you like your chapters, but I myself enjoy shorter ones, since I hate to leave something midway, haha. I've been purposely dividing the scenes (as you probably noticed), but now I stumbled across one of these threads where people debated about it. Hmm, maybe I should consider adding them up instead... *sigh* Great, now fanfictions are giving me a headache. Anyways, now I'm rambling again. See you next time then! ^^**


	14. Chapter 14

**Reminder: **Nope, I'm still not native in English. Sorry for the errors and clumsiness, though :/

**Disclaimer: **One name: Yana Toboso.

**XX**

"Shouldn't you be greeting your guest?" Ciel asked doubtingly and folded his arms. Sebastian had directed him to the spacious bathroom, which was joined to the bedroom, and now they stood there staring at each other, "Instead of supervising me?"

Sebastian smiled with skilfully acted happiness and shut the wooden door behind himself. "There is nothing I value more than the health of my pets." He had intentionally added the plural to the last word and waited for a reaction from Ciel's side – which actually came in a surprising way. The boy's tail tensed up as he glanced at the demon, but he didn't say anything, only glared.

"Besides", Sebastian continued rapidly, but still with a calm voice, while trying to figure out Ciel's thoughts, "my guest would like to meet you too, alive. If you drown in the bathtub, it would cause some problems for me and that won't do, don't you agree, bocchan?"

"Naturally it won't", Ciel replied in a pretended supportive tone, while he turned his back to the raven haired demon, "I shouldn't have forgot that."

"Hmm." Sebastian narrowed his eyes and gazed at Ciel from head to toe. He didn't like it when the teen played him and made sarcastic comments. "That means that we won't have too much time on our hands. Please undress and get into the water. It should be lukewarm enough by now."

Ciel clenched his teeth. Of course he wouldn't get Sebastian to leave the bathroom – the demon _absolutely had to _watch him taking off his clothes and step into the tub.

This bathroom was much larger than the one in Ciel's previous 'prison'. There were a few chestnut cabinets on the short wall, right next to the matching door and a big full-length mirror occupied the space on the opposite side. A few white, fluffy towels hung from a silvered rack, below the cabinets, ready to be used. Next to them, there was a sink with silver taps and a wide, deep bathtub. The toilet was situated next to the tub, which made an excellent table for the bather's needs and gave the impression that the architect had carefully planned the design of the room.

Although the decorations were all in black and grey colours - which made the atmosphere somewhat gloomy - it was also very classy in a strange, demonic way. The floor was covered with a thick, shaggy carpet in silver-grey colour and the dark glazed tiles reflected the fire from the candle-holders on the walls, making Ciel baffled about how amazing it all looked in the light of the small flames. Only demons could come up with something like this – it was truly wonderful.

Yet Ciel had no idea what Sebastian could possibly do with a bathroom. Did demons even need to take baths? Carmiza had supposedly taken one when she arrived at the manor, but was it really necessary or did she just like to relax in the hot water? No other possible explanations for a restroom came to Ciel's mind and he wasn't comfortable enough to ask about it.

"Are you going to get in or do I have to throw you there?" Sebastian asked with amusement. "I could help you undress, if you forgot how to do it yourself. After all, it's very understandable if you need assistance, bocchan."

Ciel glared at the demon and started to take his shirt off. "No thank you, I think I'll manage it myself."

"Very well then", Sebastian replied and leaned against the cold, tiled wall while he closely followed Ciel's nimble movements, "if you need any help, I'll be right here."

_"__I'm sure I won't forget that in a haste", _Ciel thought irritated, while folding his shirt and then begin to undo his pants, all the time with Sebastian's gaze glued to his body. Rapidly he undressed himself and slid into the tepid water. It burned his tail and when he unintentionally splashed the water with his arm and made a few drops land on his ears, it felt yet again like he was going to lose his consciousness. He shook his head and flicked his ears, trying to get rid of the wet feeling, which hurt him so badly.

"Are the ears still sensitive?" Sebastian asked, closely observing his contractor's behaviour.

"Yeah", Ciel answered curtly. He started slowly to clean himself with a yellow sponge he had found on the edge of the tub, trying to drag on the process as long as he could, so his new body parts could get used to the water.

"Would you like me to help?" Sebastian asked after a moment, still staring at Ciel.

_"__No",_ Ciel thought, _"of course not. You'll only hurt me."_ He bit his tongue – very lightly, though, since the muscle still felt a bit sore – and continued to scrub his arms, carefully splashing a little water on his ears once in a while.

"I think I can wash myself without your help, thank you very much", he said slightly annoyed.

"As long as you do it properly, there's no need for me to interfere", Sebastian replied calmly, "but I promise that I won't hurt you if you want me to assist you."

Ciel snorted. _"What the hell is he going on about? He's a demon, for God's sake, of course he would hurt me if he wanted to and that's probably one of the few things that he could actually want to do to me."_

"I'm very serious, bocchan, please don't abase me." Sebastian narrowed his eyes and exposed his teeth, but only for a short flash. His gaze had turned pink once again and he had straightened up from his position where he had been leaning against the wall. It seemed like the demon's eyes were turning to the brighter colour for good – Ciel saw very little of the crimson gaze anymore.

The teen didn't respond to his former butler's offer. He had been quietly doing what he was supposed to and he was ready much faster than he first had expected. Ciel had now completely cleaned his body – except for the ears and tail. He clenched his teeth and took a gentle grip around his tail, squeezing the sponge in his other hand.

_"__He won't let me get away, I know it",_ Ciel thought depressed, _"I'll have to do it or _he_ will."_

Sebastian had to admit that the boy tried very hard not to whine of pain, but he failed miserably when he had scrubbed his tail for just a minute or two. Ciel had only been able to clean a small part of the full length, but in his defence, it still was something. Ciel took a break from his desperate tries to rinse his tail off all the dirt and leaned against his own knees, now panting. He shut his eyes and frowned annoyed.

After some debating with himself, Ciel swallowed his pride and tilted his head back. Slowly he stretched out his hand towards his former butler, holding the foam covered bath sponge in his grip. The water dripped from his arm on the floor with soft splashes, breaking the silence between him and the demon.

"I need your help", he admitted with a low, submissive voice.

Sebastian frowned slightly and pressed his lips against each other. He had calculated that it would come to this, but he had never imagined that Ciel would do it so… tamely.

"Please", Ciel whispered without looking at the demon, "I can't do it myself. It's too painful."

Nothing happened and Ciel bit the inside of his cheek. _"Does he want me to continue to hurt myself? Is that why he's here in the first place? Does he like to see me like this, that sadistic bastard?"_

All the thoughts wrapped themselves around each other and him, making him feel dizzy. Why had he suddenly accepted his new position? Why the hell had be begged for Sebastian's help? Lately, Ciel had find himself doing and saying rather strange things – things that he would never have done while human. Why was that? Had Sebastian actually taken charge of his feelings and decisions?

He felt a very gently touch around his wrist and then how someone took the sponge out of his hand. He made his teeth let go of his cheek and looked cautiously up, not knowing what to expect. Sebastian had taken off both his gloves and overcoat - and even rolled up his sleeves – and was now kneeling beside the tub. He gently rinsed the sponge off the foam and turned his gaze to meet Ciel's.

"I'll be very gentle", he said seriously and reached for his contractor, "but first you'll need to come closer."

Ciel gulped, but moved slowly over to Sebastian's side of the bathtub. The raven haired demon briefly touched Ciel's shoulder and arm, before gripping the tail. He held it in place, but didn't squeeze it in his grasp, only steered it closer to himself. He let his hand slid up and down the appendage, trying to figure out exactly _how_ sensitive it was and how harshly he could touch it.

The teen breathed a bit heavier than usually, but it was probably due to the sudden tension in his body. He was very restrained and suspicious towards Sebastian, trying to fight the urge to withdraw. The demon assumed that all the carefulness was instinctive, since Ciel had now adapted a lot of animal like behaviour and his intuitive knew that Sebastian had hurt him so many times – and that it was very likely that he would do it once again.

"I promised you that I wouldn't hurt you if you asked for my help, didn't I?" he said in a low voice, almost as if he tried to purr. "Please try to ease off a little, it will pain you less that way."

"It's hard", Ciel complained, but he still tried. He shut his eyes and focused on his breathing, as he felt Sebastian's fingers move around for a short while. He emptied his head of all troublesome questions and focused on the comforting feeling of the demon's touch.

"_One thing at a time",_ he convinced himself.

When the teen had taken control over his own body, Sebastian began to gently scrub the tail. Ciel twitched unexpectedly and the demon's hands froze at the spot, waiting for his contractor to calm down again. Then he continued his task, now even gentler than before. Soon he found a smooth pace to wash the fur as thoroughly as he could. Ciel hadn't properly looked at Sebastian after the humiliation (referring to when he asked for help, not to mention all the other dishonours he had to cope with) he had been through, but at least he had relaxed a bit and slowly started to trust the demon's words and actions.

_"__Well, he could unexpectedly pull my tail", _Ciel thought and gazed down in the water in front of him, _"but I've already done a lot more shameful and horrible things than trusting him, so there's really not much to lose anymore. I've even told him that I've _dreamt_ about him and I confessed that I don't _want_ to _like him_. Why did I even do that in the first place? On the other hand, I never said I liked him. Do I like him? No."_

Ciel shut his eyes again, as he felt Sebastian's fingers soothingly clutch around his tail and with his other hand move the sponge back and forth, further and further upwards against the tip of the limb. The touch was very familiar after many years of Sebastian serving him and it had a very strange impact on Ciel, which he really couldn't define. _"But if I wouldn't like him, then why would I be affected this way? So, maybe it's a…Yes?"_ He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. _"Maybe."_

"What is it?" Sebastian asked calmly. He hadn't stop his motions, but he observed Ciel's face as the teen had begun to blush in a very delicate pink colour. Then he smirked, as if he knew what Ciel had been thinking. "Do you like it?"

The boy refused to look at the demon, but kept his eyes closed to avoid accidental eye-contact. "It doesn't hurt", he mumbled in a very low, almost pulsating voice, not wanting to answer the actual question.

_"__Do I like it?"_ Sebastian's words echoed in Ciel's mind, and he tried his best to make sense of his feelings. _"I'm not even sure. I _don't_ like it, because it hurts and I feel very vulnerable in this state but at the same time… It's giving me a very soothed feeling, somehow. I know him and I… at least I _was_ able to trust and rely on him. Besides, no one has touched me like this in a very long time."_

He opened his eyes and stared unfocused at the wall across the room. He saw the shadows of the flames burning the candles dance around like small children playing ring games. Sebastian hadn't said anything more – he hadn't even demanded for a proper reply.

_"__It's a lot like the touch in that dream from earlier. Why did I dream something like that? Was Sebastian playing with my mind or was I actually… fantasying something like that?"_ Ciel felt his blush grow deeper. He bit his lip and turned his gaze away, so Sebastian wouldn't see his embarrassment. _"But he probably knows about my confusion anyways… I'm feeling this weird craving again, it's like a huge hole in my chest and the only way to fill it is to… make that terribly unnatural sound. As if I wasn't already disgraced enough."_

Sebastian had worked his way to the tip of Ciel's tail and began to slow down his pace even more than before. He had earlier concluded that the tip of the appendage was the second most sensitive place, right after the ears. He smiled teasingly, but his eyes shone with a very different kind of emotion. Unfortunately, Ciel couldn't see it, because he stared at the wall on his other side.

"Hm", Sebastian said in a very indifferent voice, "I'm afraid this will hurt a little."

Ciel pulled a face, but didn't turn around or even flick. He just waited for the breath-taking pain to come and overwhelm him. "Just get over with it", he muttered miserably.

Sebastian looked at Ciel and then on the tail. He hadn't stopped the scrubbing, but avoided to move any closer to the tip of the limb. For a second he frowned, then his face broke up in a sweet smile.

"I'm afraid we can't evade the pain, but I could try to make it… more pleasant to take." He smirked, when Ciel surprised glanced at him and then nervously turned his gaze away again. "I think that would be the best solution to the problem."

_"__I wonder why he's blushing", _Sebastian thought, still glancing at Ciel, _"is it pure embarrassment or do he in fact like this situation… or not?"_

At last Ciel gulped and nodded as imperceptibly as he could. Regardless his try to be discreet, Sebastian saw the motion and interpreted it as an acceptance of his offer.

_"__Hm… No matter if he doesn't like the situation for now, that is definitely going to change. I'm actually quite curious… how much brighter can my little pet blush? I'm very eager to find out…"_

Sebastian moved the yellow bath sponge closer to the tip of the tail, slowly letting it glide along the fur. He did his best not to hurt his contractor more than necessary, but also make it as pleasant as it possibly could be. Gently he wrapped his fingers around the appendage and touched it with his fingertips, slowly drawing small circle like figures in the wet fur.

When the sponge found its way to the end of the tail, the painful feeling filled Ciel's head, forcefully chasing all the other thoughts away. He inhaled sharply, as if he was going to have a panic attack, but refused to move further away, as he knew it would only cause trouble for him.

The demon had also noticed the change in Ciel's anxious body. He frowned and pressed his fingers a little bit harder against the limb. Suddenly felt how the sponge got stuck on something and raised his eyebrows in doubt.

It was old blood – probably Ciel's own -, which had made the fur of the tip to dry together to one big tuft. Sebastian sighed inwardly; it was very natural that specifically the tip was dirty, since it was the area first to touch everything, which was very unfortunate. It would have been a lot easier to scrub some other place, but it was rarely that Sebastian had any luck in things like this.

"Oh my", he said in a soft voice, "Someone has been very naughty and made my job even harder than it already is."

Ciel's face shifted and he glared annoyed at Sebastian. "What do you mean?"

"Hm", Sebastian replied ignorantly and ditched the sponge, "this is useless. I'll have to do something about it by myself."

"How are you going to…?" Ciel gasped for air when he felt Sebastian's finger clutch around the tip of his tail, firmly brushing the fur.

"Please just stay quiet, like all the good pets do when they're told to."

The raven haired man narrowed his eyes and focused on the tail. He forced it in the water and tried to rearrange the hair into a somewhat neat order.

_"__How did this happen?" _He thought irritated with himself. _"I should have been more careful with the blood."_

He noted that the boy hadn't replied anything and also Ciel's painfully twitched back, which made him to conclude that the touch had to be pure torture for the teen. Sebastian muttered in a very low voice, not loud enough for Ciel to hear any of his words. Still trying to brush the tail, he moved his free hand in a more firm and faster way than before. First it seemed to hurt Ciel even more and Sebastian almost gave up, but suddenly the young male let his head drop down and shoulders relaxed. The only thing heard was Ciel's soft, but fast breaths and heartbeats. Sebastian sighed quietly and continued his movements.

Halfway through the process to clear up the tuft, he heard his contractor's more or less pleased moan. It sounded a lot like a mix of purr and human-sounding enjoyment in Sebastian's ears. Ciel's cheeks started to burn of embarrassment when he realised that he had _made _that very noise, but he couldn't help it.

It wasn't long before Sebastian had removed the tuft and all of the dried blood. Slowly he let go of the appendage and grabbed Ciel's chin. He made the teen to involuntary meet his gaze and gently forced the small male to come even closer to the edge of the bath tub.

Sebastian had been good enough not to mock Ciel for making such noises, but now he smirked slightly. "You like it, don't you?"

Ciel tried desperately to look away, but didn't success in the end. He did a very pitiful attempt to shake his head, but failed. Sebastian's grip was far too strong.

The demon scooped some water in his hand and took a firm grip around his contractor's neck so Ciel wouldn't try to escape. Sebastian wetted the right ear gently, first the outside and then the inside. The boy had already washed his hair, but he had done it without touching his ears at all.

_"__He wouldn't have been so careful if it wasn't for the ruthless pain", _Sebastian thought bitterly and let his damp fingers softly brush the inside of the ear.

Ciel whined and flinched, but Sebastian held him in place. For a moment it actually looked like Ciel had lost himself to the animal instincts and was ready to do whatever was necessary to get away, but then he gathered himself and swallowed instead.

"Sch", the demon said softly, "I know it hurts, but not for long anymore."

With one hand he rinsed the cat ears and with the other he lightly touched the boy's thin lips. He kept Ciel's gaze locked with his own and tried frantically to find a less painful way to caress the ears.

There was no doubt about when he found the right way to touch Ciel.

The young male's eyes grew wider and his breath changed from pained to utterly pleased. A small, innocent purr like moan escaped him and he bit his lip – and almost Sebastian's thumb at the same time -, furiously flushing. Sebastian kept his neutral façade, but behind it he was very pleased with himself.

_"__There it is… I thought for a second that I had lost it."_

Ciel's breath got heavier and a little faster. He did a desperate move to get a further away from the demon, but Sebastian's iron grip of him made it impossible.

"Don't squirm around like that", Sebastian said calmly, "you'll just hurt yourself." When Ciel didn't listen to him, he ended his previous activities and instead grabbed the teen's chin – once again - and pressed his other hand against his contractor's neck. The circle on his left hand started to glow before had enunciated the command. "Ciel, sit still or I'll hurt you more or less consciously."

The teen calmed down when he felt the ticking feeling in his eye. The order pulsed through his veins, forcing him to obey. He opened his mouth to announce his objections, but not a single word came out. Sebastian had ordered him to stay silent and the need of obeying his master had taken hold of Ciel's body and partly even his mind.

"Splendid", Sebastian sighed, when Ciel had stopped moving, "I'm very pleased."

Ciel felt the need to snort, but he was too breathless to do so.

Slowly Sebastian continued what he had been doing before the boy's sudden withdrawal. He dipped his fingers in the foam covered bathwater and gently cleaned Ciel's ears in a very caressing way. It resembled a lot the way Sebastian had used to pet the stray cats at the Phantomhive manor, but the demon decided not to mention it. His contractor was known for disliking cats and to be petted like one – let alone partly being one himself – wasn't very easy for him as it was.

The teen tried to keep the strange sound inside himself, but the black hole in his chest grew bigger and bigger, demanding him to spin like a distressed cat whose only life goal was to be cuddled. He couldn't restrain himself from purring – not to speak of the moaning.

Sebastian smirked satisfied when he heard Ciel's small whines and sighs. He moved his fingers from one ear to another making sure to rinse them carefully without breaking the spell he had cast over the younger male. He kept his other hand behind Ciel's neck, so the teen wouldn't do any sudden moves and hurt himself by mistake and began now slowly to slide his fingers in the boy's hair, soothingly caress the soft skin underneath.

Ciel wanted to glare and hiss at Sebastian, but couldn't bring himself to do it. His mind was filled with annoyed insults, but none of them came out of his mouth. The only things he could pronounce properly were moans and they didn't require any pronunciation at all. He panted and shuddered with delight, when Sebastian touched him. Slowly he stopped to try to resist the feeling of complete comfort and instead embrace it.

_"__I must be crazy…"_ Ciel thought and let his gaze drop down. His cheeks burned and small shivers went down his spine and tail, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. _"I'm not sure what Sebastian tries to accomplice by doing it, but I'm afraid he's winning this game…"_ He would have gulped if he could, but the sudden new kind of tension was overpowering his own will.

A blushing and panting Ciel had now become Sebastian number one favourite thing. The boy trembled underneath Sebastian's touch and had completely lost control over his breath and pulse. The demon wasn't even sure anymore if he caressed Ciel for his own pleasure – or the teen's. Which one was it? Sebastian didn't care, as long as it worked both ways.

The ears were clean and the tuft on the tail was opened up, but Sebastian didn't feel like ending the bath quite yet. He leaned closer to Ciel who sat in the tub so he could whisper into the boy's ear. Ciel felt his demon contractor's warm respiration touch his skin and remembered how Sebastian had blew warm air at him to dry the damp ears the last time he had bathed.

"I told you I would be gentle", he said softly, "and I am not one to break my word."

Ciel only sighed as a reply, not being able to actually say anything. The previous order to keep quiet had tightly wrapped itself around his mind, paralyzing his tongue.

It wasn't long before Sebastian realised that the guest was probably waiting for him. He was everything but happy about the visit, but he would get into much worse trouble if he as a host tried to drive the lodger away.

"Can you stand on your own?" Sebastian asked in a low voice. "Or shall I help you?"

The teen's feet didn't bare him and his arms betrayed him. He couldn't even heave himself up with help of the bathtub's edge; he was way too shaky to do any of it himself. Sebastian chuckled and lifted easily his small contractor from the tub and to the floor. He wrapped one of the clean towels around Ciel's petite body and softly ruffled the boy's hair.

"I didn't expect you to be this susceptible to my touch, I'm truly sorry." It was clear that the demon mocked the younger male.

Ciel glared at him and wrapped the warm fabric tighter around himself and buried his flushed face into it. He felt the raven haired man crouch down next to him, but ignored it. Sebastian put his hand on Ciel's narrow back and looked patiently at the boy.

"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked in a soft voice. The pretended worry shone as bright as ever in his tone, as if he _wanted_ to make sure that his contractor noticed it _definitely was_ pretended. "Ciel, look at me."

The boy swallowed and shut his eyes, trying to calm his breath. The familiar tingling feeling in his right eye started to get unbearable, compelling Ciel to turn his gaze so he could meet Sebastian's, even though he did everything in his might to resist the need. The demon butler didn't wait for the reaction, but took a firm hold of the teen's cheeks and forced him to make eye-contact.

"You really should learn to obey me at once", Sebastian said in a low, threatening voice, "I served you many years without questioning your orders, but you can't carry out even one simple demand without me force you to conduct it. I begin to grow very tired of it, Ciel."

They stared at each other for a while, but at last Sebastian let go of his contractor, who immediately dropped his gaze to the floor. Ciel shivered and the demon could only guess why. He sighed and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are you alright?" he repeated. The boy – who had now curled up to a small ball, with his ears pointing down in clear submission and shame – nodded quietly. "Good. I want you to dry yourself and put some clean clothes on and then come to the living room, so you can meet our guest. Is that understood?"

Ciel nodded again, but didn't look at Sebastian, who grabbed the boy's dirty clothes and walked away. For some reason he felt like Ciel needed some privacy and time to think and he was willingly to give that to the much younger male.

_I should probably ask Carmiza about this strange wish to make him feel better", _Sebastian thought as he left the bathroom, _"but she's most likely still mad at me for tearing her dress apart. I wonder what she told that red haired idiot…"_

When Sebastian had left, Ciel heaved himself to a standing position, leaning against the sink. The towel fell from his shoulders and exposed his body. He glared at himself through the full-length mirror and then turned his gaze away, still panting after the weird experience Sebastian made him go through. After a while, when he felt better, he stuck his tongue out so he could touch it.

The surface was rough, as on a cat, but when he tried to move the muscle so he could say something, there was no real words coming out. An unclear groan was heard, but not anything understandable. Ciel sighed and stumbled to the mirror and leaned against it with his whole weight. He stared at his own face; the contract mark, his small nose and thin lips. His ears flickered – they were still sensitive after the water and Sebastian's touch. Slowly he lifted his hand and rubbed his own ear. It felt damp, yet very soft. He sighed again and let his hand drop.

_"__How did he do that?"_ he thought confused and glanced at the door, afraid that the demon would suddenly return to check on him. _"Why did it feel so good?"_

He walked slowly back to the towel on the floor and picked it up. He dried himself and eventually he tied it around his waist. He glanced at himself in the mirror for one last time; his pale, soft skin covering his slightly toned body. He had managed to pick up some muscles during the years by riding and hunting together with other noblemen, but he looked nothing like a full-grown adult.

_"__No matter my feelings, I have to find out what Sebastian actually wants from me. He's clearly playing around with me and I have to do my best not to be too co-operative. That damn demon."_

Ciel pulled his hand through his hair and sighed, before leaving the bathroom. It seemed like the universe had decided to go against him, once again. He had no other choice than to continue living and struggle forward, even though he couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

_"__I think he has finally gotten a grip of me", _Ciel thought poorly and stumbled into the empty bedroom, _"and he probably knows about it. Now nothing can stop him from playing me like an evil child plays his broken toys."_

Yet, Ciel wasn't completely sure if it was wiser to fight back or give in.

Only time could tell.

**XX**

**So... Hay, I guess :)**

**Well, as you've probably noted this far, I've always divined all the scenes in two-three chapters, but now I decided to put them together instead. You can most likely tell were they're added up and if you don't like to read long chapters in one sitting, then you just leave it somewhere in the middle, eh? :) I'll probably stick to this new way with longer chapters, so the updates won't be as frequent as they've now been.**

**Thank you**** for the support :3 Hopefully you enjoy reading this fic as much as I do while writing it ^^ And as always; be my guest and leave some feedback or error corrections if you feel like it! ^^**


	15. Chapter 15

**Reminder: **Nope, no miracles here - there's still grammar errors etc. in my fics. My apologies and please correct me if it feels like it :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of it's characters, _but_ I do claim Hell, Carmiza, Friedrich and Joseph _as_ _my own _*insane laughter*

**xx**

* * *

><p><strong>xx<strong>

Joseph had a room on the first floor in one of the smaller side-corridors. It was a very comfortable room; there was a large bed with satin sheets, a massive drawer for all his clothes and other belongs, but also two armchairs and a small table. Thick, expensive fabrics covered both floor and furniture – and the bathroom was one of the most glorious rooms he had ever seen.

What Joseph didn't know was that his room was the one right next to Friedrich's and that the white haired demon would always enter and leave his own room at the same times as Joseph did. He was under constant supervising, exactly as one could expect when arriving to a foreign district.

After a very quick tour around the manor, Friedrich had lead Joseph to the living room on the second floor – just like instructed. Now he kept company to the unwelcome visitor as politely as he could, waiting for his protector to return.

Friedrich understood Sebastian's distress. The cat-boy wasn't exactly _easy_ to handle and now a silly girl and a Shinigami had joined the oh-so-happy track. There couldn't have been any more inconvenient time for their arrival, but once again, it wouldn't be called inconvenient if it didn't mean trouble. Friedrich sighed and pulled his hand through his silver hair.

"It almost seemed like you were expecting me", Joseph said and smiled politely at Friedrich, who returned an at least as pretend smile.

"One of my protector's friends came with the news. In fact, I think you know her."

"Oh, a lady?" Joseph concluded aloud and leaned his chin against his index and middle finger. "Please enlighten me, who are we talking about?"

In that moment Sebastian stepped into the room, even he widely smiling. He met Friedrich gaze and they shared a short moment of pure exasperation, but then he broke the eye-contact and looked at his guest instead.

"Excuse me, I had to take care of a few thing and it took me longer than expected", Sebastian bowed slightly, still smiling at Joseph, "I'm sorry for your wait. Has Friedrich showed you around the manor? I hope you're not bored."

"Oh no, not at all", Joseph replied calmly and stood up. He walked past Friedrich and up to his host. "Very pleased to meet you, my name is Joseph and I'm the subordinate of Claude Faustus. I hope my visit doesn't cause you any troubles."

_"So the man behind all my troubles _really is _that shady guy from the western districts? Very interesting, indeed."_ Sebastian smiled, but didn't stretch out his hand to shake his guest's - it wasn't the norm among demons. Either you were close enough to touch each other or then you weren't; Joseph was definitely in the latter category.

Even the visitor bowed a little to the taller man - who was supposed to act as his host during his stay at the manor - but only to return the gesture the raven haired demon had shown earlier.

For a short moment both of them measured each other: Sebastian noted that Joseph wasn't as handsome as most of the demons were, but he had very healthy looking, sort of brownish, curly hair and mysterious, almond-shaped eyes. His skin had a humanlike, tanned colour and his body was much more muscular than either Sebastian's or Friedrich's. Even though he couldn't be considered "beautiful", he was most likely a lady magnet during his visits on Earth – but only among the poorer girls; the noblewomen appreciated paler skin in the current era.

"I see", Sebastian said and showed the way to the armchairs where from Joseph had come, intentionally not denying the statement about "causing trouble", "I should introduce myself properly too. As you've probably heard, I've changed my name to Sebastian Michaelis, after my return down here." He was silent for a moment, waiting until Joseph had slightly nodded as a reply. "May I be rude enough to ask the purpose of your visit?" His face was completely emotionless, but Friedrich's trained eye – still from his place at the wall across the room – could clearly see the signs of Sebastian's well-hidden irritation.

_"Did something happen with the cat-boy?"_ Friedrich thought. A vague feeling of worry fret on his mind. Not that he would care (okay, maybe he cared a little bit. Just a very, very tiny bit…?), but he had decided to take the balancing of Ciel's and Sebastian's relationship as _his_ task and he couldn't fulfil it if one of the parts was missing. _"Should I go looking for him?"_

"I came to talk about business", Joseph said in a friendly tone, "there has been a lot of trouble in the nearby south, not to mention the regions further away. My protector is worried about the middle districts' safety and would like to form a strictly political alliance."

Sebastian nodded, not wanting to say either yes or no. Joseph swallowed discreetly and leaned closer into the raven haired man.

"My protector has also some… private issues he would like to negotiate about, through me, if you don't mind."

_"There it is",_ Sebastian thought annoyed, _"the real reason for this visit. The nearby south has always been a chaotic area, since a lot of the more hot-blooded protectors have gathered there. Those idiots love to kill each other and their representatives dies like flies, but since the leading is so scattered, they rarely constitute any genuine threat."_

"I'm afraid I need to know the subject before deciding if I mind or not", Sebastian replied and sat down on the couch, while Joseph chose one of the armchairs on the opposite side of the small table. Friedrich watched silently the other two men, not going to interfere in the discussion. His place had always been next to the wall, wherefrom he could get a better overlook at the situation.

Joseph was about to reply to the passive aggressive statement, when a fourth figure appeared in the doorway. Sebastian glanced at Friedrich and narrowed his eyes when he saw his guest's delighted expression, but waved then at the boy, commanding him to come forward.

Ciel wore a simple, dark green shirt, black, a little too large pants and an eye-patch. His grey-greenish hair was slightly ruffled, his cheeks were still blushed after the bath and the combination of all these details - together with his new cat features - made him look like a very innocent, delicious creature.

All of the demons' nerves were suddenly on the edge, when the rarely awakened feelings washed through them; a sadistic need to _do _things to Ciel, the strong wish to make him _their own_ – since there were hardly any tasty souls in Hell – but also the strange feeling of wanting to _protect_ him. Friedrich was both confused and disgusted by the weird _hunger_, but did his best to push it away, while Joseph didn't even fight the thoughts. The only thing he was worried about was that his protector would find out – then he'd have problems. On the other hand, Sebastian could only be described as _satisfied_, since he in fact more or less had branded Ciel as his own.

The teen glared at his former butler, but did as the demon wished. He walked up to the group of furniture and bowed slightly towards the visitant, while scanning him. The long wall of the living room was covered with several windows and the cool air in the room revealed to Ciel, that it had to be either early evening or early morning.

_"This man wants something from me?"_ Ciel thought irritated, ignoring the conclusions about the daytime his subconscious kept doing. _"Why? He looks like he would like to rip out my lever and eat it while I'm looking. How disgusting."_

"I don't think you know about my newest collection, since I haven't announced it officially yet", Sebastian said in a low, calm voice, knowing all too well that Joseph indeed had the knowledge about Ciel, "this is a former Earl named Ciel Phantomhive and he's also my most recent contractor. After his time on Earth, I made him my pet. You've surely heard about them, even though they're rare."

Joseph nodded slowly, still observing the young male. He let his gaze glide up and down Ciel's body, memorizing everything, even the smallest details about him. The other three started to get very annoyed – especially Sebastian -, but no one interrupted him.

"A pet?" The visitor echoed at last. "How are they made?"

"It's very hard", Sebastian replied ignorantly. Ciel's eye widened a bit and he turned around to glare at the raven haired demon, but Sebastian managed to pull the teen closer to him despite that. Ciel stumbled and he opened his mouth in a silent cry, when he fell to Sebastian's lap. "What was the issue your employer wanted to talk about? Through you, of course."

He held Ciel in place, when the unhappy teen wiggled around, trying to escape Sebastian's embrace.

_"This is one of his sadistic games again", _Ciel thought and tried to get away from Sebastian's hands, _"he wants to humiliate me and make me act like some sort of stupid pet. Most likely a cat, which explains the ears and the tail. As if it wasn't enough, he even lied to me all this time, convincing me that he didn't purposely drag me with him!"_

Sebastian had grown tired of Ciel struggling to escape the hold. Quickly he had wrapped the soft tail around his arm and pulled it hard enough to cause a breath-taking pain. Ciel tensed up and a very desperate whine escaped his lips, the he relaxed and ended the squirming as fast as he had begun it. Submissively he curled up against Sebastian's chest, not knowing what else to do.

_"What else could I expect from him, really?"_ Ciel sighed and turned his gaze away, too embarrassed to look at anyone. _"I should have stayed in the bedroom, so he couldn't have done this to me. He's a demon and he gets pleasure of harassing others. It's a shame that I forgot that, even if for such a short amount of time."_

"It's… well, we could probably save that for a later occasion, right? After all, politics comes before everything else, doesn't it?"

"Of course", Sebastian said in a skilfully pretended nice tone, "but you've just arrived here. The serious matters can wait for a little bit longer. After all, you've travelled a very long way to meet me here. A little small talk won't hurt, will it?"

"I suppose you're right", Joseph agreed hesitantly, "I'm very grateful for you to take me in, even when I didn't send you any warning."

"Oh, it's a protector's duty, isn't it?" Sebastian purred and gently caressed a very annoyed Ciel's tail, reminding him of what would happen if the boy didn't behave. "Besides, I'm having another protector here as well. This manor is probably the safest in the whole district."

The clear warning didn't escape Joseph. He understood right away that Sebastian threated him, as if he was sure that his lodger was going to do something stupid. Something stupid, like for instance trying to examine Ciel on his own – or even try to hurt the boy.

"Thank you", Joseph said warmly, "it pleases both me and my protector that things are this great here, even though you've been away for a few years."

Sebastian nodded and glanced at Friedrich, who was still casually leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. The demon straightened up and struck his hands together, before pulling his hand through his hair.

"I should probably inform her about your arrival", the white haired man announced gleefully, "excuse me."

Both of the other demons nodded and watched Friedrich walk over to the door. He was just about to grab the knob, when the door flew wide open, revealing the magnificent, red haired woman. The surprised demon jumped backwards, quietly hissing at the ignorant newcomer, who wore a blue satin dress, white gloves, a petite feather hat and a wide, cheerful smile, which revealed all of her sharp teeth.

"Good afternoon, boys!" Carmiza exclaimed and laughed, while softly clapping her hands together. "I almost felt bored for a minute, but then I heard that _you_", she met Joseph's terrified gaze, "had arrived and I _absolutely_ had to rush here." She walked past Friedrich, waving her hand. "You should have informed me, Friedrich."

"I was just about to", the white haired demon replied in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah, you always say that", the female demon laughed and turned to Sebastian and Joseph. Her eyes met Ciel's and she frowned irritated for a split-second, before smiling again. "So, now I've finally joined you. Please enlighten me, what were you gentlemen talking about? Please don't say politics, I hate that cold and serious business chat, it always makes me want to _rip someone's heart _out."

Joseph gulped, knowing exactly _whose_ heart Carmiza was talking about. "Pleased to meet you again, lady Carmiza. I didn't know you were here too… but now I understand who everybody has been talking about."

"Cut out the formalities, Joseph, we're all _old friends_ here, right?" She winked and smiled. "And I hope it wasn't any of those awful gossips you heard. It would be very distressing if such things were to spread about me, wouldn't it?"

The brown haired demon nodded slightly, causing his curls to bounce a little. Ciel followed the conversation mutely, trying to figure out how the relationships between the demons looked like. Sebastian cleared his throat, still caressing Ciel's tail.

"I'm happy you found your way here, Carmiza", he said and smirked. He hadn't talked alone to the female demon after the incident with her green dress and wasn't sure if she still wanted revenge for the chase they had been "playing".

"I know you are", she replied, with a seemingly light tone, but underneath there was a well covert seriousness, which only Sebastian could detect. They exchanged gazes and Sebastian understood that their childish chase had ended, or at least temporarily broke. Carmiza was serious and there was definitely something she either wanted to tell him or help him with.

_"Or then she's here to manipulate Joseph",_ Sebastian thought and turned his head to look at his guest, still with a very polite expression on his face.

"Very well then", he said and grabbed a little of Ciel's hair, achieving the small male's exasperated glares, "please sit down and join us. We were talking about Ciel, before."

Carmiza sat down on the couch next to Sebastian and Ciel, still widely smiling. She leaned closer into the teen and gently petted his ear, making the boy shiver. "My new _favourite_ topic. I wonder, how come that you've got such a cute contractor, Sebastian, but I've never had anything alike?"

"Maybe it's because your contractors are entirely mad", Friedrich said coldly.

Sebastian glared at his subordinate, but Carmiza only laughed. Joseph smiled a bit nervously, not knowing how he was supposed to react to such a statement.

"Very true, Friedrich, but I like them that way. They always manage to surprise me and _it's so much fun_, you wouldn't believe me!" The red haired demon sighed and leaned her cheek against her gloved knuckles. "They always want so bizarre things and they're never confused about my powers. They just stare at me and then smile in such a wicked way, imagining all the possibilities, all the crazy things they could do with my help. It really is _wonderful_."

"And then you eat them", Sebastian ended the story in a very ignorant tone.

"Of course I do", Carmiza replied and patted her blue dress, smiling towards the rest of the company, "that's what I'm supposed to do." She smirked at Friedrich. "Please sit down with us, there's no need for you to stand there, no one else is coming."

The white haired man ruffled his hair and nodded. Smoothly he walked over to the armchair next to Joseph's and sat gracefully down, observing the others. Ciel had actually begun to get comfortable in Sebastian's lap and leaned now gently towards the taller male's torso, still not able to meet anyone expects Carmiza's gaze.

_"I hope he's happy now… When he has managed to make me look like some stupid animal. Why do I have to be like this? Is this my destiny, for the rest of my existence? I didn't even get my revenge, but instead I'm a demon's pet, surrounded by other demons… I don't know anything about them, not even Sebastian. And now Lizzie is here too. She never explained _how_ she came to Hell, only that Grell had helped her. I wonder…"_

"Isn't your employer going to join us?" Carmiza asked and pouted. "Are you alone here?"

"Yes", Joseph swallowed discreetly and smiled towards the female demon, not sure about what she would most likely do with the information, "he has too many things to do, so unfortunately he couldn't come here to negotiate himself, but had to send me instead."

"Aren't you feeling lonely, all by yourself?" Carmiza questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

_"She's mocking me… I hate this woman. It's very ill-fated that I've been in so much trouble with her, no one wants to be her enemy, since they always tend to disappear. Why the hell is she friends with this "Sebastian"? My assignment keeps turn into a more and more complicated mission."_

"No, not at all", Joseph replied, "thank you for your concern."

"Oh, I know how it is to be in unrequited love", she said rapidly and straightened her feather hat, "you _must_ have heard the story of my soulmate being killed during very shady circumstances. It was in your home district, I believe. In fact, I'm still searching for the culprit."

Joseph stared at the red haired woman. His eyes had widened a bit and he gulped very visibly. _"Is she implying that I would have something to do with the murder…? And why did she so suddenly mention love in a conversation like this? This is difficult, as always, when she's involved." _

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about… My deepest apologises for your mate's sake…" Joseph said in an extremely serious voice. He had "known" Carmiza for quite many years already and he was aware of her mate's death, but she had never before been this straightforward about it.

Carmiza smiled slightly at the brown haired man. "Well, in time you will know. Maybe I'll share the story with you at some point." She shrugged and glanced at Ciel, who looked a little upset. The conversation had taken such a radical turn, so suddenly, and he didn't know how to react to it.

"Oh dear, I believe that I have gone off-topic", she said in a rather gleeful tone, "Ciel, wasn't it?"

Sebastian nodded and smirked even wider. "Do you have something to say, Carmiza?"

"Oh, yes", she said slowly and reached out for the small male's hair. She giggled in a low, yet girly voice, while petting Ciel's locks. She let the soft tresses slip between her fingers, before gently stroking the boy's blushed cheek, "there are many things that makes me wonder… but, as for now, Sebastian, why haven't you talked about his 'rights' as a pet, eh? After all they're quite important to know, don't you agree with me?"

**xx**

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><p><strong>It seems like I have a thing for making Sebastian's bathrooms all shiny and shit. Weird...<strong>

**I've written this scene (which of course continues in the next chapter - I had to split it somewhere, it would have been terribly long otherwise) at least three times over :/ I hope you liked it, because I'm not sure what I think about it, even though I've used _a lot_ of time to write & edit it... (I dare not count all of those hours *chills* What am I doing with my life now again?!)**

**Meh. Tell me - I don't care how you do it - is my writing style very jumpy and/or confusing? I've lately had the feeling that it's terrible ("onlybadself-esteemproblems" I think. Or what do I know...) and let's not get started on all the grammar mistakes X_x Oh well, I'm here to improve, please bare with my whining (I'll shut up now) ^^'**

**But before that, I'll show my gratitude to you! _Thank you_ for reading and supporting me, everyone ^^ Hopefully I'll see you in the next update again :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Reminder: _**_I'm very sorry for all the mistakes I make in this fic due to my not-so-very-good-English-grammar. Feel free to correct me._

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own Kuroshitsuji, but luckily enough, Yana Toboso does! ^^ It would be terrible if such a beautiful thing wouldn't exist__ :(_

**_xx_**

_"My rights? Do I have rights?"_

Ciel looked confused at Carmiza, who smiled sorrowfully. Her eyes shone with all the feelings she felt – but none of them resembled with happiness. He swallowed, with a nausea growing in his stomach.

"Yes, his rights", she said and took her hand away from Ciel's face, meeting Sebastian's gaze, "or the lack of them, to be correct. They're a very important part of being a pet, don't you agree, Joseph?" She glanced at the brown haired man. "You know what, my dear Sebastian?"

"Please tell me", the raven haired demon said coolly, "I have no idea of what's going on in that creative mind of yours." He felt Ciel's surprisingly light weight be gently pressed against his chest and he followed carefully the pace of the boy's breaths. He was so soft and so… small, simply. Ciel was like an easily breakable porcelain figurine and Sebastian had to handle him with care, otherwise the teen might crash and scatter into millions of pieces.

"I knew you would say that", she said smiling, but still eyeing Ciel with a serious look in her eyes, "I think we should repeat all of Ciel's privileges, right here, right now."

"If you think it makes a good conversation", Sebastian said and mildly pulled Ciel's tail, making the younger male to squirm uncomfortably and open his mouth in silent protests, "I don't have any objections."

"Good!" Carmiza leaned back and looked closely at the former Earl. "But first, I think you should release our poor Ciel from your order, which is forcing him to stay silent. It's very annoying to see him with an anxious expression like that."

"Oh?" Sebastian looked down at Ciel, who glared at the demon. "You could tell something like that? I didn't notice." It was true, the raven haired demon _had_ noted that Ciel was unusually quiet, but hadn't even considered that it could possibly be caused by some command.

"Well, he hasn't said anything in a very long time and he's _a little bit _too obedient to be the Ciel I know." Carmiza laughed sincerely. "Honestly, didn't you wonder about it? It seems like you have a much stronger impact on him than what you realise. What do you think, Friedrich?"

The white haired man nodded quietly, while observing the red haired demon. _"What is she up to? There is something she wants, but it's really hard to tell… She's almost too clever for her own good."_

Sebastian touched Ciel's forehead lightly, while mumbling in a really low voice. The demon was almost a bit regretful for the command, but wasn't going to admit it. He reminded himself that from now on always check that his orders didn't impact too strongly on the helpless contractor.

Ciel sensed the tingle in his right eye and assumed that the raven haired demon whispered new commands to undo the previous one. Carmiza didn't bother to pay any attention to it, instead she sighed and started to tug her gloves off.

"This fashion is rather bothersome, don't you think so too, Sebastian?"

He nodded and smirked a little, when he was ready with his mumbling. "I agree with you, Carmiza, but you have to admit that the architecture is impressing, even for humans."

She laughed loudly. "Oh, Sebastian the great optimist has joined us! You're right, the manors are great." She started to examine her black nails, but glanced quickly at Ciel, who now sat upright in Sebastian's lap, waiting for her to continue her original topic. "But to go back to Ciel… I confuse myself continuously! I know a few things about pets… My beloved mate used to have one, as some of you might know." She glared at Joseph, who leaned back a few inches. "It was a girl called… Mary, I think. Exactly like Ciel, she had a great personality. She also used to fight back when she was ordered to do something."

There was a deep silent, when everyone glared at the red haired woman.

"I think I saw her once", Sebastian stated peacefully, when he understood that no one else was going to say anything, "but she missed the cat features Ciel has."

The former Earl hissed and his cat-ears flicked with irritation. "I didn't want these… _things_!"

"Sch." Sebastian laid his long and slender index finger against Ciel's thin, red lips. "I know you've temporally forgotten your manners, but you really should try to behave, otherwise you won't like the next time you're left alone with me…"

The teen glared at the butler, but turned his head away, angrily staring at Carmiza instead. _"Damn, he got the control! I guessed he would be using him power _against _me…_" Ciel clenched his fist and glared at his tail, which was in Sebastian's firm hold. _"…as I had used mine against him too, back then when I was in charge. I made him do things he didn't like, impossible tasks, traps… He's exactly like me."_ It was hard to admit, but when he thought about it, he realised it was the truth. Resembling to the way Ciel had been testing his demon butler, now Sebastian challenged his pet. _"But he still lied to me. He knew about the cat features and the reversed contract. He confessed to Joseph that he had _intentionally_ made me his pet!"_

"Yes she did", Carmiza replied to Sebastian's statement, overlooking the contractors' little scene, "but my beloved soulmate didn't… care about his pet as much as you do, if I put it that way." She chortled and let her hand fall on the couch. "Nevertheless, they were _bound_ together, it was impossible to take one, without having the other following. Every time… Mary ran away, he found her and captured her. It was quite simple actually, because she had to obey his commands. That's rather convenient, isn't it, Joseph?"

The brown haired demon had only observed the others, glad that he didn't have to participate in the conversation. Suddenly, that demoness had dragged him into it. He grimaced quickly and turned to the red haired female. "Yes, it is. It must be very relieving to have such a strong hold of your property."

Ciel blushed bright red and gave the guest a killing gaze. Sebastian pretended not to notice it, since he was only amused by the teen's reaction. He caressed the teen's tail, now almost unconsciously. Even Ciel himself had started to get used to the smooth touch.

_"They talk about me like some sort of object… I should have stayed in the bedroom. I think there's nothing Sebastian could do that would be more humiliating than this."_ The dream Ciel had had earlier returned to his already embarrassed mind. _"Or… maybe there is. But this is still quite uncomfortable. I want to tell them my opinion, but I'm pretty sure that Sebastian meant what he said earlier… That darn demon!"_

"I must agree", Sebastian said in an almost purring voice, quietly petting Ciel's ear. The boy tried to turn his head, but Sebastian was faster and managed to pinch the soft tip between his fingers, triggering Ciel to wail in pain.

The only female present jumped a bit at the noise. "Please don't hurt him", Carmiza said in an almost upset tone, "I don't like hearing such an _innocent _creature's whimper."

"I'm terribly sorry", Sebastian apologised and glared at Ciel, who rubbed his sore ear, "he's just a bit… difficult to control."

"Oh, it's a part of their usual behaviour", Carmiza exclaimed airily and started to fumble with the edge of her dress, "they like to rebel towards their masters, until they're shown their right places. Besides…" She leaned closer into the other demons, giving playful gazes to both Friedrich and Joseph, "…only the pet owner can command them and actually make them obey. I tried it several times on Mary, but she didn't listen to me. She was terribly jealous too, when my beloved husband ignored her."

Friedrich had narrowed his eyes, glancing from Carmiza to Sebastian to Ciel. _"She's trying to do something, but what, exactly?"_ Then he sighed and shook his head. "You haven't talked about his rights yet."

The red haired woman laughed, throwing her head backwards. "I forgot to mention it!" Suddenly she got very serious, staring at everyone with cold eyes. "There are no privileges. He's totally under Sebastian's command, as was Mary my beloved one's to order around. It means that anyone who has problems with Ciel, has also problems with his owner."

Everyone sat quiet for a few seconds. Carmiza grabbed her gloves carefully, while smiling sweetly. "Oh my, I think it's time for me to go and check on my companions, Miss Elizabeth has probably awakened already and I have to talk to Mr. Sutcliff before checking on her. Sebastian, could you _please_ be so nice and escort me? I forgot where his room is."

"Naturally", he said and gently put Ciel on the floor. The boy glared at him, but didn't say anything.

_"He has started to learn", _Sebastian thought pleased and stood up.

"Joseph, you're welcome to stay here if you like to, but Friedrich could also escort you back to your room. I hope we'll have a proper chat soon enough." Sebastian smiled towards both men in their armchairs.

"Thank you very much, I should probably retire too. A fine long bath could make wonders right now." Joseph rose as well and Friedrich followed his example, looking like a light shadow behind the muscular man.

"Yes indeed. Friedrich…?" Sebastian grabbed Ciel and shoved the boy forward, glancing at the other men with divided attention.

"Of course", the white haired demon said and presented one of his most handsome smiles, which made everyone to question his intentions. His reputation for being grumpy wasn't any empty talk, after all.

"Excellent!" Carmiza exclaimed and struck her hands together. She excited the lounge first, with the rest of the company following her. Friedrich and Sebastian made sure to stay between Joseph and Ciel, but both of them did it as discreetly as possible, not wanting to make the new guest suspicious. "See you boys soon again!"

Friedrich and Joseph mumbled some polite goodbyes and took their leave – Friedrich still awkwardly smiling. Sebastian showed the way back to Carmiza's room, but outside of the door all of them stood still and silently, gazing at each other. Only Ciel's tail wagged slowly back and forth and his ears flicked nervously, but it seemed like he didn't notice it himself.

"Are you mad?" Sebastian asked and narrowed his eyes, as he met the demoness crimson gaze.

"On you or Joseph?" she replied witty. "Or maybe Friedrich?"

"Anyone, but mainly me." Sebastian let his hand rest on Ciel's slim shoulder, making sure that the boy wouldn't try anything stupid. He was sure that his contractor was furious, but he would have to deal with all the overwhelming emotions later on – at the moment, Carmiza was more important to handle.

"Yes I am, but aren't I always?" she chuckled and winked. "Don't worry, I expect you to tail me a new dress when you have time and then everything will be alright. It will be green and at least twice as beautiful as the one you destroyed."

"Certainly", Sebastian said sweetly, "anything for you, Carmiza."

She laughed sincerely. "Good." She lowered her gaze and smiled to Ciel, who glared at her, as she leaned a bit closer to the boy's (still flushed) face and whispered lightly in his ear. "I know I give the impression that I'm a bitch… But even I have a few things I'm not ready to sacrifice, no matter the price."

She met her host's cold glares over Ciel's shoulder. Emotions flickered in her thick gaze, which was piercing Sebastian's very being. She was a strange person, making contracts with mad humans and doing the most ridiculous show out of almost everything - but she wasn't dumb or gullible. Sebastian had known her long enough to see when she was serious and when she used her influence. She had lost many things and stayed strong despite that, but she had also admitted to herself, that she wasn't ready to lose anything more. She was willing to humiliate herself or make her seem evil, if that was what was necessary to keep her most precious things safe.

"I can understand that", Ciel said in one exhalation, "I was like that too."

"Oh?" Carmiza straightened her back. "Not anymore?"

"What could I have here?" he asked dismissively. "You yourself told me just now that I can't own anything, since I'm owned by Sebastian, didn't you?"

"Regardless of that, there's many things you could have, Ciel Phantomhive", she responded with a wide smile. She waved and opened her bedroom door in one smooth motion. "I hope to see you around sometime soon again." Then she left the two others in the hallway, both of them staring after her.

"Hm." Ciel glared at the door the red haired woman had closed behind herself. "You can let go of me now, Sebastian, I'm not going to try to escape."

Sebastian's eyes darkened. "I like it like this, so this is the way it's going to be." He pushed Ciel gently. "Let's go back to _our _room."

_"Our?"_ Ciel shivered. _"I don't like the sound of it. Me and Sebastian having something… together."_

"I thought we were going to show her the way to Grell's room, not her own", he muttered as they walked through the corridors.

"It was a lie", Sebastian said indifferently, "she wanted to leave and she wanted you to leave. That was her way of arranging things after her own will."

_"She wanted me to leave?" _Ciel thought. _"Why would she want that? Besides, she asked Sebastian to escort her, not me."_

"She knew I would take you along", the raven haired demon said, as if he knew his contractor thoughts, "please do not question her or my actions, it's very irritating."

The smaller male didn't reply. Sebastian glanced at the teen from behind, quietly adoring the boy's slender body. By the tension of Ciel's shoulders, Sebastian could conclude that he was both anxious and angry at the same time. The position of the tail and ears only confirmed the suspects.

Soon they were before the wide wooden doors. Sebastian let go of Ciel and opened the double doors, showing the way in with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Please."

Ciel glared at the raven haired man and walked in with pride. He turned around in the middle of the room, so he could face his demon contractor. Sebastian shut the doors and turned around, he too, still smirking.

"Are you angry with me, bocchan?"

"…" Ciel glared at Sebastian. "You didn't notice I wasn't able to talk?" he said flatly. "Really?"

There was thousands of things he would have liked to ask and even more things he could have shouted to the demon. _"Why did he lie about the contract shifting? Why does he play with me? What does he want? All of this is so… so confusing! I would like to rip him apart, kill him over and over again… He should feel the pain and humiliation he made me go through!"_

Sebastian looked sincerely surprised. "I'm sorry, bocchan, but it's true. I didn't realise I could influence you so strongly. It won't happen again, not accidentally at least."

_"Great, so he might do it intentionally, then?"_ Ciel bit his lip and clenched his fists. His whole body shook with anger.

"What did you do to Carmiza's dress? It looked like you have managed to make her angry too." Ciel stood as frozen in the middle of the room, staring at Sebastian.

The tall demon was truly amused. He could see the thin veins on Ciel's neck and hands pulsating in sync with his racing heartbeats and hear the boy's sharp inhales. He felt the teen's confused, angry and scared aura and how the boy desperately tried to cope with those feelings.

Yes, it was amusing, but it also made him uneasy. He didn't _want_ Ciel to constantly feel like that.

"I _talked _with her after your little game of chess… After all, you almost bit off your very own tongue. It would have been terrible if it was to fall off. Don't worry about it, she knew what she was doing and was ready to face the consequences. There is many things to learn about her, but the first and most important thing is to never underestimate her." Sebastian folded his arms over his chest. "Was that all you wanted to know?"

"Of course not!" Ciel shouted unexpectedly. Sebastian frowned and sighed. "You lied to me about the contract, you did make me your pet on purpose! And what was that thing you did back in the lounge? Making me sit in your lap and like that… I'm not your pet, you can't just do things like that to me!"

In a split-second, the demon had pinned Ciel against the wall. "Yet I did it, didn't I?"

He could feel the teen's heavy respiration against his face, when he bent down, closer to the blushed boy's face. Ciel shivered noticeably in his grasp, but he ignored it. He knew that his contractor had a lot of strong feelings inside him, but he didn't care. Ciel had to calm down and get a hold of himself. In an angry state like this, he wouldn't accept anything - no matter what Sebastian said.

"Listen very carefully, now", Sebastian hissed between his teeth. Ciel's eyes had widened in shock and fear, as he stared up at the much more powerful male, "I meant what I said, when I threatened you. If you can't behave, _I will_ punish you."

The boy in his grip started slightly to panic. He wiggled around in the sturdy hold, desperately trying to escape. "Sebastian, let me go at this instant!"

"No." It was a very hard word and Sebastian stressed it by squeezing Ciel tighter against the wall. The teen's tail was painfully in between his bodyweight and the emerald green papered wall and it made him whine breathlessly out of pure pain. Sebastian clenched his teeth. Usually when he showed his dominance forcefully (or painfully) enough, Ciel acknowledged his position and calmed down a bit.

It worked, once again. Slowly, the young man started to relax in the demon's grasp, now only panting and shaking, quietly wailing. He stopped to squirm and bit by bit, began to give in.

_"This is useless", _Ciel thought and let his head drop, _"he will do as he pleases without caring about either my opinions or feelings."_

"Are you listening?" Sebastian asked softly.

The sudden friendly tone surprised Ciel. What did Sebastian try to accomplish by being mean and nice every other minute? He gulped. "Yeah."

"Good." Sebastian sighed and let go of Ciel. The boy fell immediately down to the floor, curling up to a small ball in front of the taller man. "I did mean the things I said while telling you to behave, but it doesn't mean that I meant everything else." He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his index finger. "Carmiza isn't the only one manipulating others and lying to accomplish her goals and you know it very well, bocchan. You have been doing it several years and I do it too. Just because I implied that I had intentionally made you my pet, doesn't necessary mean it is true, does it?"

Ciel froze on that spot. _"Is he telling me, that he was lying to Joseph?"_

"But why…?" he asked weakly. "Why would you lie about something like that?"

"Because he's too curious about things that is none of his or his protector's business", Sebastian said and crouched down in front of Ciel. He took a gentle hold of his contractor's chin – as he had done so many times before, it had almost become a habit – and forced the boy to look at him. Ciel obeyed hesitantly.

"Do you believe me if I say I wouldn't have done this to you purposely?"

Ciel stared into Sebastian's crimson eyes. He couldn't tell apart any feelings from that gaze, but he concluded that the demon was serious. _"Why is he so worked up about something like this? Does he actually care about my feelings for him?"_

"I don't know", Ciel said coldly, "I think you do whatever you like. At least you've done so this far."

"If _you_ don't know what you believe in, who is supposed to know then?" Sebastian asked, exactly as coolly as his contractor. His grip of Ciel's chin got sturdier. "You always want to do things the hard way, Ciel. My patience is running short." Ciel swallowed, again and again. "I _order _you to answer my question."

"No, I don't believe you", Ciel whispered, when he felt the tingling feeling behind the eye-patch, compelling him to answer at once, "I have no reason to do so."

"Hm." Sebastian let go of Ciel, who stared down at his own knees. He rose and turned away. "Then I'll just let you stay in here, until you've changed your mind. I want you to think very closely about everything."

He walked to the door and glanced at the poor boy over his shoulder. Ciel sat tightly pressed against the wall, staring at the floor with desperation sparkling in his eyes. With his hand on the door knob, Sebastian opened his mouth once again.

"Carmiza's soulmate did die during shady circumstances, but he never had a pet."

Ciel looked up with a puzzled expression. What did Sebastian mean with that?

"She lied about it, just so she could convincingly tell about the things she has dug up about demon pets. Mary isn't real, Ciel. The other things she said was true, though, but she used Mary to stress her points. I think you should think about why she did that. Take your time, but don't do anything stupid. As I said before, I'm not going to play any of your games, not this time."

Then the demon was gone, locking the door after himself. Ciel curled up to an even smaller ball, rocking himself from side to side. Sebastian stood just outside, following the boy's movements and hearing his distressed, quiet cries.

_"Hopefully he'll realise not to be stubborn and will think a little by himself."_

Sebastian sighed and walked away, now concentrating on the oncoming problems. He wouldn't have any help of Ciel, at least not for now.

**_xx_**

**Huff...**

**So I've just finished writing ch 23 O.o' I'll have you know that I'm very pleased with myself ^^ ****I'm also very grateful for your continuous support (as that review box always claims - it's true, every word!), dear readers, who ever you might be.**

**I read through & edited some of my recently published chaps and it made me pull this face: O.O'''''''''. I mean, there was like three _fucking sentences I had forgot to end_. How is that even possible with all the proofreading and editing I do?! Like really, sailorel? _BUT_ the main point was that there has been over 200 visitors at that particular chapter and all of you have been either like 1) "This makes perfectly sense" or 2) "Wtf? Oh well, I'm too polite to mention this to her, I'll just let it be" (I'm not going to admit that there could be any other possible scenarios, haha). I have the most understanding and sweetest audience on FF, really! :3 (No hate anywhere :o I'm very lucky) So, thank you for just being -^.^-**

**And so, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and please let me know what you thought about it! ^^ Love you all, have some cookies! ;)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Reminder:** Yes, my English is still under construction. All kind of help is still welcome, though :)

**Disclaimer: **I wouldn't be writing this if it wasn't for Yana Toboso who created Kuroshitsuji :3 Have you checked out the newest chapter off the manga? All I can say: Awwse ^^

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><p><strong>xx<strong>

Ciel sat in his study, with loads of paperwork on his desk. He leaned back in the enormous, plush armchair and sighed. From the window he could see it was a rather sunny and beautiful day outside, but he knew there was no way he could find time to enjoy the rarely warm weather.

_"__How much work can there be? It's only one company after all."_

He would have wanted to close his eyes for a moment and take a short nap instead of working, but a knock on the door made him decide otherwise.

"Enter", he called grumpily and straightened his back, "Sebastian." Who else could it be? Of course it was his ever so loyal servant.

Exactly as expected, the butler came in, smirking. "Your afternoon tea, bocchan."

"Put it on the desk."

Ciel's commands were always short and hard. He avoided being friendly or talkative. Sebastian's task was to do as he said and there was no point in trying to chitchat with the demon. After all, the only reason for the raven haired man to be there was the soul, which the demon was going to devour as soon as Ciel got his revenge.

"As you wish."

Sebastian bowed slightly and carried the tray with the teapot and porcelain cup to the massive desk. He poured the hot liquid into the tea cup and was just about to announce what kind of drink he had made for today, when Ciel interrupted him.

"Something is wrong, isn't it?" he asked coolly. "Why are we here, why am I doing this paperwork? Lizzie inherited everything, both the manor and the company."

The demon's smirk widened as he dropped the teapot. It fell to the floor with a loud crash and the delicate porcelain and hot tea was scattered everywhere. The cup he had filled just seconds ago cracked now unexpectedly and was destroyed without a logical reason.

"Sebastian!" Ciel shouted. He rose from his chair, in an attempt to scold the butler.

"I didn't expect you to be this smart, _bocchan_."

Sebastian chortled as he reached out for the teen. He grabbed Ciel's arm and pulled the teen violently closer to himself, forcing the boy to collide with the huge wooden desk. Ciel felt how the air left his lungs and tried desperately to catch his breath. Sebastian pulled him right over the table, so all the piles of paper flew around, slowly heading towards the ground. There were a lot of loud noises as the tray hit the ground and kept spinning around for a while.

Ciel felt how one of his asthma-attacks was growing inside him. It felt like a pair of very firmly tightened belts around both his lungs and throat and they were slowly choking him. "S-se-seba-…" He tried to grab the butler's arm, but the demon didn't care, but snickered instead and bent down to lick Ciel on his cheek.

He didn't realise he was crying before he felt Sebastian's tongue catch the small, salty tears_. _The demon took a break from the licking, just so he could softly purr in Ciel's ear. _ "Hush, don't cry…" _Sebastian nibbled at Ciel's earlobe and grabbed a tuft of the grey-greenish hair in his fist. _"You can't have an attack, Ciel, you are my pet now. I order you to stop."_

It took some time to understand what Sebastian meant, but then Ciel remembered. The attack vanished into thin air and he could now breathe with ease. The surroundings had started to blur around him and it wasn't because of the tears. He batted his eyes in a desperate attempt to see clearer.

"Sebastian, what is the meaning of this?"

"Aren't you a clever one", the butler laughed and petted Ciel's hair, ignoring the question, "but always so arrogant."

They had left the study and were now in Sebastian's bedroom, at _Sebastian's_ manor. Everything was clear: Ciel's arrival in Hell, how he had got the new cat features, his fights with Sebastian and games with Carmiza. He could picture Friedrich face in his mind and heard the tone of Joseph's hungry voice cling at the back of his mind.

The young Earl grimaced. "I thought you were going to leave me alone, so I could think things over."

Sebastian laughed and let Ciel go. The teen collapsed on something soft and warm. He blinked confused and looked around. How the hell had he fell on the bed, all of sudden? Hadn't he been at the other side of the room, just now?

"Yes, but I think you've got enough time to think. Are you ready to accept the situation and respect me as your master?"

_"__What?"_ Ciel thought and glared at a grinning Sebastian. _"No, I'm not!"_

He opened his mouth to voice his objection, but nothing came out. He tried and tried and Sebastian laughed amused while watching Ciel struggle.

_"__That bastard!"_ Ciel shut his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek. _"He has forbidden me from going against his will while I was sleeping!" _Then he realised the lacks in his own logic. _"Wait, when did I fall asleep?"_

"Well, what is your answer going to be? Enlighten me, Ciel." Sebastian bent down and smiled widely at his precious pet. Ciel hissed furiously, backing away.

In fact, he withdrew so much, that he almost fell over the edge of the bed. "Fortunately", Sebastian was there to support him, still smiling his crazy smile and his eyes burning with hunger.

"Is my sweet little kitten going to disappoint me once again?" he asked in a low, almost sad, voice. He held Ciel in a tight embrace close to his chest and looked mischievously down at his pet.

"No I'm not…" Ciel whispered faintly. He shook his head. What was he saying?

_"__I can't… I can't disappoint him again, can I?"_ he asked himself. His logical side shouted at him to flee, but how would he do that? Sebastian held him too tightly, the embrace was almost knocking him unconscious. _"This shouldn't be something to argue over."_

What did that thought even mean? With which argument was it siding with? Was it agreeing with his logical thoughts, the ones ordering him to scream "No!" and run as fast as he could in the other direction – or was it convincing him to whisper "Yes" and give in to the much stronger demon, without putting up a fight?

"You're not what?" Sebastian asked, devilishly purring. He caressed Ciel's flushed cheek and smiled as sweetly as he could.

"I'm not going to disappoint you…" Ciel said so softly, it was almost impossible to hear.

"Oh, you're not?" Sebastian asked in a pretended nice tone. He put Ciel down on the bed and pressed the much smaller male against the soft fabrics. "Are you sure you can keep that promise?"

Ciel swallowed once, twice, trice. He felt salty tears roll down his cheeks, but he did his best to ignore them and nodded slightly. "Yes…"

It looked like Sebastian's sick grin was going to crack up his face. He laughed quietly as he bit his glove and tugged it off with his teeth, revealing the contract mark. With his other hand, he gathered Ciel's weak arms and forced them up above the teen's head. The demon lowered his head and snuggled into Ciel's shoulder.

The former Earl could feel Sebastian's respiration tickle his neck in a very… sensational way. He felt the adrenaline spread through his body – it was in his veins, and it was pushed forward in the same pace as his heart pumped that hot blood of his. Sebastian's bare hand started to slowly explore Ciel's abdomen, underneath his shirt.

Ciel felt like ordering Sebastian to stop, but he was too breathless to do so. Instead he panted and whined as a defenceless animal. "Ah, Se-… Seb-…"

"So nice", Sebastian purred into Ciel's ear, "so innocent, sweet and inexperienced… You're truly pure, Ciel and now you're all _mine…_"

**x**

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><p><strong>x<strong>

_"__It's a dream, just a dream"_, Ciel convinced himself. He was covered in sweat, like a feverish little child, and his breath was considered "very heavy".

He had fell asleep against the wall, opposite of the bed, but now he lay on the soft, black satin sheets.

_"__He must have been here and moved me",_ he thought and looked around. There was no trace of the demon. _"At least he's not here anymore." _He touched absent-mindedly his ear, softly rubbing the inside of it.

Ciel figured it would be rather awkward if Sebastian was hanging around somewhere nearby, since he couldn't be sure how much the demon could sense of his feelings.

_"__Does he know I've been dreaming about him lately?"_ Ciel gulped. _"Does he know those dreams have been… _that_ kind of dreams?"_

He sighed and leaned his forehead against his knees. He rubbed his eyes, just to notice two things: firstly - he had been crying in his sleep and secondly – someone had removed the eye-patch, which had covered his right eye when he had been meeting Joseph.

_"__Why did he even want me to wear an eye-patch? It wouldn't be shocking news for anyone in Hell that I've made a contract with a demon."_ He shook his head. There were too many questions, but it was never the right time to ask them. _"Instead I blurt out totally senseless things and nothing is actually answered."_

Ciel sighed and slid down the bed, heading towards the well-designed bathroom and to the sink without any longer hesitations. He let the water pour for a minute, before splashing the tepid liquid in his face. When it was cold enough to drink, he gurgled and slurped it with great enthusiasm. Even though he didn't have to drink as much as when he had had to while he lived in the guestroom with the window, he still was thirsty most of his waking hours.

_"__It's Hell", _he thought frustrated, _"what else did I expect but soreness and pain?"_

When he was ready, he dried his damp lips and chin with the back of his hand and glared at himself through the full-length mirror. He suspected that he had never before in his entire life been this sweaty. Disgusted by himself he grimaced and glanced at the bathtub. Could he risk Sebastian's anger and take a bath?

_"__He wanted me to think things over."_ Ciel bit his lip and climbed into the tub, but he didn't touch the water tap. He just sat there, curled up in of the corners of the wide, white tub. _"Maybe that isn't just some random request, but a truly good idea."_

The young man stared at his owns hands, noticing how they still were shaking after the dream. He had avoided admitting that Sebastian had a rather strong impact on him and it was seen especially in his dreams, where Ciel's strangest… desires were naked and fully exposed. _"Can I trust Sebastian? Was it true what he said, had he lied to Joseph? He clearly doesn't like that demon."_

Ciel ruffled his hair and let then his fingers slid into his locks. He shut his eyes and focused wholly at the thoughts, which were tangled into each other, trying to ignore the questions about his dreams. His mind was a mess, once again.

"I hate this!" He exclaimed out aloud. "What does he want from me?"

The depressing thoughts started to creep around him, like evil crows circulated around fresh carcase. He glared at the gloomy bathroom, noticing that the candles were still burning in their holder. Had Sebastian lit them for him?

_"__It had been easy before. I was expected to take my revenge and then Sebastian was supposed to eat my soul. I didn't like him, he didn't like me, but we had a deal and both of us wanted to keep it valid. One goal, one consequence. But now? What do I want, what are the consequences of my actions down here? Are there any?" _Ciel exhaled heavily. _"Is it true that I'm entirely Sebastian's now? Can he do whatever he want to me? Is there_ anything_ I can chose by myself anymore or is everything really up to him? Do I…" _Ciel gulped. _"…Do I like it that way, when he can… do those things to me?"_

"I have to pull myself together", he said aloud and looked up. He stared at the black glazed tiles and tried to calm his breath. "And think."

The first and the most important question, since everything else was depending on it: Did he believe Sebastian? Was it true that the demon hadn't purposely dragged Ciel's soul to Hell?

_"__He's a demon. Demon's lie. He admitted it himself, even though he earlier said he would never lie to me."_

These were Ciel's rational thoughts, the ones that wanted him to stay independent and powerful. Then there was the other side of the coin.

_"__He was bound by the contract back then on Earth, but not anymore. There has to be a reason why he lied to _Joseph_ and not to me. Why would he first lie and then expose himself? He's a _demon,_ not some stupid farm boy."_

"Okay", Ciel whispered to himself, "what if he didn't lie to me? What then? He still orders me around." The teen bit his lower lip so hard that the flesh started to feel numb. The dream flashed in his mind, reminding him that he had… eh, _kind of_ liked it.

_"__I did command him when the contract was first formed and now it's simply his turn to command me."_

"I must be mad", Ciel muttered and shut his eyes once again, "I argue with myself. I'm not the kind of person who should do stuff like this." On the other hand, he wasn't the kind of person who should even doubt his own feelings towards _a demon,_ of all creatures, either.

He could imagine the black crows caw in his head. He heard how their wings fluttered, when a whole flock of them began to rise. _"What if I'm going to live here forever? What if I never die?"_ He bit his lip even harder, making the numbness change into pain. Could he even die, when he had already done so once? Should he ask Sebastian about it? _"Would that mean that I would be his… forever? He could do whatever he wanted with me. Can I really trust him that much?"_

The crows' caws were more and more distant, when he managed to slow his racing breath down and let go of his lip. He couldn't panic, not now. Quickly he scattered all his doubts in his own mind, imagining them as a piece of glass that he could just smash and then watch disappear.

_"__Carmiza then? Did she really lie about Mary? Why would she come up with something like that, convincing Joseph that I was inseparable from my 'master'?"_

Ciel opened his eyes in shock. He remembered the talk he had had with Carmiza, when she implied she was ready to make sacrifices to get to her goal. Then she had whispered new things to him, right after their meeting with Joseph.

The crows were quiet now, only a vague memory in a distant part of his higgledy-piggledy mind.

_"__It's clear that she doesn't like that brown haired demon… There was a strange tension between them and she went on and on about her dead soulmate… Then she told me that she wasn't ready to sacrifice some things… What did she mean?"_ Ciel dug his sharp claws into his scalp. _"She obviously lied to save something precious to her, but what could that be? The only thing she actually talked about was me and the only tie between me and her is Sebastian. Was she saving Sebastian, somehow? Is he the precious thing she isn't ready to sacrifice? She knew I thought she was cruel and she didn't defence herself, no, she admitted it. Was she trying to tell me something?"_

Even though Carmiza did a lot of strange and frustrating things, she didn't want to harm Ciel, it was the only sure thing ever since they met the first time. She was only curious about him and it seemed like she obsessed around Ciel just because Sebastian thought he was worth it.

_"__Or does he think so, really? Is it just to confuse me?"_ Ciel shook the thoughts away, when he started to fantasy about the instigating crows again. No, he had to focus on the main points. _"I can worry about Sebastian's opinions about me later on."_

Carmiza had probably lied about Mary and Sebastian had absolutely no cause to lie about the contract, just to later expose himself. Neither of them were stupid, after all.

_"__Right", _he thought relieved, when the crows were gone for good, _"now I know where I am. This feels much better than the confusion."_

Indeed, Ciel was one of those people who didn't like messes. He was purposeful and was always aiming for something. He couldn't accept that he, Ciel Phantomhive, – former Earl and Queen's Watchdog – could possibly go entirely mad. Maybe that was why Carmiza was so interested in him? Could she sense his borderline crazy mind?

"I'm going to solve these mysteries, so I can play the game", he told himself. He sighed and jerked at the tap. Slowly, the warm water started to fill the tub, making both him and his clothes soaking wet. "But first I'll rinse all of this dirt away."

**xx**

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><p><strong>So, this is the great "turning point" where Ciel realises... things ^^ I know everybody is slipping out of character, but I have been doing it more or less consciously. I mean - neither Sebastian or Ciel are very sweet ( or even nice ) in the mangaanime and I don't want to write a romance where they just hate each other O.O' So, Ciel is going to get even softer than he already is. I'm telling you this _now_ so it won't come as a big letdown later on :/ ( Hopefully you don't feel like I've been deceiving you :D )**

_**Thank**_** _you_ for your support and I hope you'll continue to enjoy this little, everybody-is-out-of-character fic xD **


	18. Chapter 18

**Reminder: **My English is still a work in progress. Feel free to help me out, if there's some ridiculous/weird errors that you think I should correct - I'll do it straightaway :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kuroshitsuji, but Yana Toboso does.

**XX**

_One…_

Alois Trancy – former Earl Trancy – leaned his head against the dirty cell wall. He felt the bricks scratch against his bare back, but he didn't care, only welcomed the uncomfortable feeling. The freezing cold ground – similar to bedrock – radiated its iciness, causing his whole body to shiver, but he didn't even notice how his entire physique was affected by it.

_One, two…_

He clenched a small, yet sharp, pebble in his bloody fist. He saw the blood trail down his wrist and drop down on the stoneground he sat on. There were almost no lights down in the dungeon, but Alois had resided there for such a long time already, that his eyes had got used to the darkness.

"Almost like on a real cat", he whispered to himself, "My night sight is very good."

_One, two, three…_

When did he become a mad man? Was there even any turning point or had he always been like this – crazy and bewildered, like an injured animal? Alois hit the back of his head against the wall. He had a terrible headache from before, but he didn't care, because it felt good to hit his head like that.

"If I smash hard enough…" He whispered in a low, sweet voice, as if he was trying to sing a lullaby to himself, "I'll lose consciousness."

"Do that, sick little boy!" one of the demons in the cell next to his shouted maliciously. "So we others could enjoy some peace too!"

_One, two, three… One, two, three…_

The demon's name was Roy and he had a rather low, raspy voice - but in a very seducing way. Alois had learnt and memorised every demon's name and voice he could hear from his cell. He wanted to know them, he wanted be able to use them if it was needed.

"You really do hope that, don't you, Roy?" he answered in normal, conversational tone, then he laughed sincerely. "But the scent of my blood won't disappear even if I was to lose consciousness and you know that."

"I know", Roy grunted, "But at least you would stop making it worse. Besides, that noise is incredibly annoying."

_One, two, three… One, two, three…_

"_The boy_ is annoying as hell!" another demon shouted from the other side of the corridor, trying to be heard over all the babble, cries and screams from around the prison. "I've been here hundreds of years and I've never seen anyone more irritating. I would kill him immediately, if I could."

"I may break these bars just to shut him up," Roy groaned.

Alois laughed so his whole body shook, once again scratching his neck on the bricks he leaned against. Forcefully he hit the back of his head several times and his mind blacked twice, but only for a few seconds each.

_One, two, three… One, two, three…_

The grip of the sharp pebble didn't lose even one bit. He had been smelling his own blood for so long that he couldn't sense it anymore. Same applied to the scents of iron, demon blood, dirt, sweat and stale air too.

The demon on the other side of his prison cell was named Charles and he had a higher pitched voice than Roy, but it was still very manly. Alois imagined the demon as a dark, very handsome man.

Claude had truly tried to isolate Alois from all the hungry demons, but there were too many prisoner and eventually some of them had had to move closer to the blonde boy. There was not even one second of his conscious time when the blonde teenager didn't try to take an advantage of someone or something.

_One, two, three… One, two, three…_

"Don't you like it, Charles?" he shouted unexpectedly. "Huh? Don't you?" Alois laughed and slapped his free hand against his bare tight. His shorts were as short as ever and there were big holes in both them and his shirt. His boots had been taken away a long time ago and now he wiggled his bare feet from side to side, watching his dirty and bloody toes lazily follow the motions.

_One, two, three… One, two, three…_

The sharp edges of the pebble penetrated his filthy skin. He felt how more blood bled out of the small wound and smirked pleased.

"Pain…" he whispered. "Yes, pain…"

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

"Oh, stop it already, Alois!" Charles screamed frustrated. A metallic sound was heard when he threw himself against the gratings.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

"Hold on a little bit longer!" Roy said, leaning against his own prison bars so was as close to Alois as he could be.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

Somewhere further away, there were other demons groaning too, when they smelled the former Earl's blood. Their desperate cries echoed among other noises and made Alois smirk his wicked trade smile.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

"He'll black out any minute now!"

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

Alois laughed maniacally. He had the power over these demons – they were hungry and he was a tempting meal, who _wanted_ to be eaten, by teasing the hungry dark creatures in their small cells.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

He forced the pebble to cut deeper into his thigh. There was blood everywhere over his feet, shorts and shirt. It was on his palms and on his face, on the ground and the walls – it was like paint, which's only purpose was colouring the grey surroundings in beautiful red.

This was his way of spending time and driving away the last ounces of reason.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

He had created the perfect rhythm; quick, short hits three times in a row, then a very small pause, just to gather his breath and let the fragrance of his blood spread out into the dungeon and blend into the stale air there. The longer he kept playing his sick little tap game, the shorter breaks he had.

It took less than thirty sets of the "three hits- rhythm", before the scent was strong enough to drive at least one demon completely crazy.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

Alois loved it, more than anything. He had power, he could control others. He laughed as he felt how his whole body had started to get numb. Soon… soon he would black out for a few hours.

The perfect rest, much better than sleep.

He couldn't feel nor imagine anything.

It was like being dead.

_One, two, three… One, two, three… One, two, three…_

He exhaled relieved.

_…_

_One._

**_x~x~x_**

Sebastian stood outside the bathroom, with folded arms, coldly staring at the soaking wet boy in front of him.

He had heard Ciel's low mumbles and how the tap had been turned on, but he hadn't interfered; only waited there, ready to save Ciel if the boy would have been about to drown.

The young man had wrapped one of the white towels around himself and left his clothes to dry on the edge of the bathtub. He hadn't expected to meet Sebastian when he returned to the bedroom, but there the demon was, staring at him with his deep crimson eyes.

"You have been bathing", Sebastian stated in a neutral tone, "alone."

Ciel bit his lower lips for a split-second, but then met the demon's cold stare. "Yes. I was sweaty and I didn't want to bother you." He passed Sebastian and walked over to the bed, where he sat down and started to leisurely dry himself. "Besides my ears and tail didn't hurt anymore. I suppose I should thank you for that."

Sebastian measured Ciel with his gaze. Was the boy telling the truth? He had been checking on the teen, who had fallen asleep - curled up against the wall, how else - and then he had carried Ciel to the bed. He had indeed looked very uneasy, even in his sleep. The demon shook the thoughts off, forcing himself to concentrate on the now very awake Ciel_. "He supposes so?"_

Sebastian scoffed quietly, amused by the teens way of expressing himself. _"Ciel Phantomhive is humble for a change."_

"I should probably punish you for being rebellious against my commands", the demon muttered and walked over to the drawer, wherefrom he found some clothes that would fit his small contractor, "but I think I'll pass this time." He glanced at the messy sheets on the bed, sensing the clear despair and sadness Ciel had felt just hours ago.

"You didn't use the contract, so it really wasn't an order", Ciel replied faintly and rose from the bed. Sebastian handed over the bundle of clothes and Ciel took it without uttering another word. After a short moment of reluctances, he let the fluffy towel drop from around his torso to the ground and rapidly dressed himself. After all, Sebastian had already seen him naked countless times and trying to now cover up himself would only seem ridiculous.

Sebastian crossed his arms and prepared himself to patiently wait for the teen to dress up. "Still." Then he frowned and sighed, while looking at the tangled sheets. "I should change those." Quickly he hovered – or at least Ciel thought it looked like that – over to the drawer and found a few rolls of red, fresh sheets. He shut the drawer with a graceful, quiet motion and then walked over to the bed, where he without hesitations started to change the bedspreads.

When Ciel was ready – with the eye-patch too, even if the struggle to tie the knot was one of the most annoying ones -, he backed away so he could better observe his former butler.

"I have been thinking." He leaned against the wall behind him, not turning his gaze away even then when Sebastian met it. They looked at each other for a short second, but then the demon smirked mischievously and continued his task, breaking the eye-contact. Quickly he had folded the dirty sheets and straightened the new ones, so he could properly meet his protector's demanding stare again.

"Please tell me."

"It's strange…" Ciel shook his head and looked at his bare feet. Sebastian hadn't given him any shoes during his stay down in Hell and he had become conscious about the fact that even Elizabeth had walked barefoot when he saw her the last time. "…I really don't have any reason to trust you, but I think you don't need to lie to me either. I'm really not a threat to you or anyone else either, for the matter."

Sebastian pressed his lips together. That statement wasn't entirely true, but it was probably for the best not to let Ciel know anything yet. The demon dropped the pile of neatly folded sheets on the bed. He could feel the vague smell of tears and sweat rise from them, which made him regret his harsh words and treatment. Ciel could be very cold-hearted and cruel, but Sebastian should never forget all those times that the boy had shown his much more vulnerable side.

"I'm pleased to hear that." He smiled at the teen. "Is there something else you would like to tell me?"

Ciel's tail squirmed around a bit nervously. He touched his neck absent-mindedly, but a clear determination was seen in his eyes. It seemed like he had decided to do something and Sebastian could only guess what it could be.

The following really came as a surprise to Sebastian. He batted his eyes in confusion and tilted his head a little bit to the side, while gazing at the short male.

"I would like to help you", Ciel exhaled, "if there's anything fitting for me. It's a big manor and I have nothing to do. If you haven't decided to devour me, that is." He leaned even heavier against the wall, as if he needed support to express his offer. Ciel wasn't used to _ask_ or _beg _for things and it was quite humiliating, but if it was the only way to get his will heard, then he was prepared to do it.

Sebastian smirked. He hadn't expected this, not at all, but he understood what Ciel was planning; the only way to get to affect things and get more influence was to rule and handle sensitive information and Ciel knew that it was Sebastian who was in charge at the manor. If the former Earl could squirm his way into the leading through his ex-butler, he could slowly start to build up his own power over others, like he had done before dying.

"No, I'm not going to eat you, not anytime soon at least, but I also think it's better for you to wait before trying to do anything at all. You don't understand this world yet, Ciel." He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his index and middle fingers. "Besides, I still haven't officially announced your existence."

"Hm." It had been worth a try, but Ciel had already started to hope that he could have managed to manipulate Sebastian. It seemed like the demon had other plans for him. "What about Lizzie then?"

The butler dressed demon picked up the dirty bedclothes. "She's my responsibility, exactly like you. Carmiza has promised to act as Elizabeth's companion, so it's very unlikely that someone would try to harm her, but I still try to keep an eye on her too."

_"__So is she the other pet then?" _Ciel thought angrily_. "He said earlier that he had many pets, but he has also mentioned that we are very rare. Was he just trying to confuse me before or was it Lizzie he referred to?"_

"Follow me", Sebastian said in a low tone. He opened the bedroom door and started to lead Ciel through the hallways in the spacious manor, without giving the boy even one eye over his shoulder. Elizabeth had been begging him to let her see her dear fiancé again and Sebastian knew that he couldn't postpone the youths' meeting much longer anymore.

He escorted Ciel down a pair of large, carpet-clad stairs and then to the lounge on the first floor. There were two turquoise haired demonesses down there, both in expensive-looking, white Victorian dresses. They smirked widely when they saw Sebastian, but their eyes grew immediately darker and hungrier when they noticed Ciel, who shyly peaked at them from behind the tall man. Sebastian stepped to the side, pushing his contractor backwards, and showed the two ladies out.

When the second demoness was passing them, Sebastian handed her the pile of sheets with a neutral expression on his face. She batted her eyes and gave the dark demon a sweet, deceiving smile, but didn't say anything. She nodded and grabbed the other female's hand, still smiling and curiously glancing at the shorter male. Both women continued their gazing over their shoulders, as they slowly started to walk away. Ciel could clearly hear them giggle and whisper something, when they turned around at the end of the corridor to give him their last looks. He gulped and followed Sebastian into the lounge.

"Have you been having nightmares?" Sebastian asked in a very light, conversational tone, avoiding to let even one short moment of silence fall, which would give Ciel a chance to ask frustrating questions. "Since you've slept so uneasily." He walked over to a cart on the other side of the small living room. Someone had left cold water and a few clean cups there and he started to fill one of them, assuming that the teen was thirsty.

"Yes, kind of", Ciel replied reluctantly. He sat down on the red, plush couch and swallowed greatly.

_"__They're nightmares in their own way. I'm not lying", _he told himself and bit his tongue.

"Hm." Sebastian frowned. "We should make them go away, then. I can't have you walk around with too little sleep, can I? You'll get sick if this continues."

His contractor opened his mouth to voice his objections, but the hallway door was opened so suddenly and forcefully, that both Ciel and his demon contractor jumped a little at the loud noises and forgot to continue the conversation.

Elizabeth stood there, with her beautiful, black dress and golden ponytails slightly swinging after her run. She looked from one of them to the other and then rushed over to her former husband-to-be. "Ciel! I'm so sorry for all the things I said!"

Her ex-fiancé tried to say something, but was muffled by the taller girl's hair. Awkwardly he laid his hands on her waist in an attempt to hug her back, when she started to cry against his shoulder, squeezing Ciel towards her own slender body.

Grell followed in right after her, shouting something. He interrupted himself when he saw Sebastian and ran towards the irritated demon, with a wide, happy smile on his face.

_"__I can take Elizabeth, but this…"_ Sebastian tried to avoid the red haired man's outstretched hands, when the Shinigami desperately tried to cuddle him, _"what are they doing here, now? I thought they would come later."_

Carmiza stumbled in too, joyfully laughing and applauding. "Oh, here you are, my dear Sebastian!" Her dark haired friend gave her a very depreciating gaze – now knowing why Elizabeth had arrived so early -, but she didn't let his bad attitude affect her. Instead she closed the door gracefully behind herself and danced over to Grell and Sebastian, excitedly smiling at Ciel while passing by.

"I know everything", Grell purred pleased and tried to grab his "beloved's" arm, "about you. I can't wait to share some secrets of mine too…"

The raven haired demon sighed irritated and glared at Carmiza. Hopefully she hadn't taken her duty towards the Shinigami all too seriously when she had promised to tell him about Sebastian.

Elizabeth had pounced upon her loved one so forcefully that they had both fell to floor. Ciel's head was dizzy and he batted his eyes in a pitiful try to focus on the ceiling above him. His former wife-to-be blushed, as she realised that she now sat on top of her ex- fiancé, her frilly hem spreading over him and the floor around them like a black, trembling rose. Quickly she got up and helped the young man too, still gleefully smiling and furiously flushing.

"Lizzie, I'm sorry about what I said", he mumbled and looked at her. What could he say? He wasn't going to recant any of his previous statements, because he really meant them. Elizabeth shouldn't be in Hell and she shouldn't have tried to save him, it had been a plain stupid plan, exactly like her "revenge" plot too (after all it was _Sebastian_ who they talked about). Ciel had been beyond saving for a very, very long time already and that wasn't going to change even now when he was dead.

"I know you are", she said softly and took his hand in hers, "I'm sorry too. I also have to tell you something, Ciel, it can't wait any longer." She bit her lower lip a little nervously, but didn't give way with her eyes.

Ciel looked at Carmiza, Sebastian and Grell over his former fiancée's shoulder. The red haired demoness met his gaze seriously and then turned around to chat with the other demon and his admirer, now in a much business-like tone (believe it or not, apparently even Carmiza got one of those tendencies). "What is it, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth's face changed into a very sorrowful expression. All the traits of a childish girl vanished and left was only her well-mannered, fierce self. "Sebastian told me about your situation, Ciel, I'm very sorry for you and I would help you if I could." She glanced at the demon over her shoulder, and he met her gaze with empty eyes. She swallowed discreetly and turned back so she could encounter Ciel's indifferent stare. "But I also have some great news, Ciel, I found your murderer and executed him! He tried to bribe the witnesses and even the judge, but he's dead now."

The boy stared surprised at his former wife-to-be. "He tried to… Do you mean that he wasn't doomed, but then…? You… you hunt him down, Lizzie?"

"Yes I did", she answered and smiled bigheartedly, "If the law can't handle the criminals, then I'll do it myself. Your servants did help me a lot, though."

"My…_those_ idiots?" he said, baffled. Was Elizabeth joking right now?

Swift memories of Mey-Rin, Bard, Snake, Tanaka and Finnian flashed before his eyes. They were clumsy, useless and troublesome most of the time, but they were also good fighters – after all, it was Ciel and Sebastian who had chosen them as servants for the Phantomhive manor.

"It was quite bloody", the blonde woman said and touched her lips dreamily, "if I remember correctly."

"But how?" Ciel took a firm grip around her shoulders and stared at her. "Lizzie, you shouldn't have! I would have died anyways, when Sebastian would have devoured my soul. Your hands aren't meant for such things."

The gaze in the girl's eyes changed again. She smiled sympathetically. "Everyone dies, Ciel, someday. You wasn't supposed to die that day and I had to carry out my revenge on that cruel man. Besides, I think you know by now that I'm pretty good handling a sword or even two."

Ciel pressed his lips together and his eyes shone with wrath. He should have guessed that Elizabeth wouldn't have left the murder alone. Of course she had ran after that man, whoever he was. Ciel didn't remember anything from his own death, just the moments before the actual incident. He shuddered at the memories, but then he stiffened up, when realising something.

"You don't remember… if it was bloody when you killed him? Why not… Lizzie? Please don't tell me that…"

She bit her lip again. The expression of a strong woman melted away, revealing her softer and more girly side. Silent tears had started to stream down her cheeks. The room was awfully quiet – even Grell had understood to keep his mouth shut.

"Lizzie no." He shook his head and his grip around her shoulders got stronger. She wailed quietly, but did nothing to stop him. "You could have done so much, there was so many things you wanted to do and see, you always talked about Paris and… Please say you didn't do it, not for me at least."

"As I said", she mumbled with a broken voice, "Everybody dies someday. I executed him, but he managed to shoot me in the stomach. I remember how Bard picked me up and told me to stay awake, but I think I fell asleep… and then…" She swallowed. "Yes Ciel, I'm dead too and I did it for your sake. Please don't tell me to regret it, because I'm not going to, not now or ever." She inhaled sharply. "Never."

**XX**

**Hopefully you liked this chapter and let me know what you thought about it! :) As always, I'm very, very, very thankful for your support! ****:3 Please accept these virtual-hugs I send you all -^.^-**


	19. Chapter 19

**Reminder: **My English needs to be worked on, and I know it, so feel free to help me out with typos & etc :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kuroshitsuji, but I do consider myself as the mother of a few OCs... sadly enough, none of them will actually appear in this chapter :(

**Oh and Elizabeth did know Grell before she died and she knew about the contract too, as I might have said earlier already. She didn't just run away with some random dude...**

* * *

><p><strong>xXx<strong>

**_~x~x~_**

_There are rules when it comes to making contracts with humans, but there is only one above them all, one that should never be broken:_

**_The feared demons are the hunters._**

**_The pitiful humans are their prey._**

_This is how it always been, this is how it is supposed to be._

_But every rule has an exception - and if it doesn't, then it only exists for the cause to be broken._

_Who dares to be the first rebel?_

**_~x~x~_**

_"__She's dead."_

Ciel leaned his head against his knees. How could he be back to this confused and pathetic state, just when he had decided to get stronger and more powerful?

_"__She really is dead, like me, and now she's in Hell too. All because of me. Only one girl I would do anything for and that girl suffers the most."_

He laughed quietly for himself, pained. Of course it had to be like that. He was Ciel Phantomhive – the boy whose parents died and who was tortured, the boy who was supposedly "saved" by a dark creature from Hell. He had been nothing but a poor human who had wanted revenge, but he couldn't have that either – no, _of_ _course_ he end up in Hell, together with his sadistic butler. He _absolutely had to_ grow cat-ears and let's not forget the tail, too. But not just that, no, even his fiancée had to die and then travel to Hell, so she could witness his humiliation and suffering as a demon's pet.

Sebastian had seen how Ciel's well-polished, acted cover-up had started to crack when he realised what his former wife-to-be had done. His expression had been plain and his stare cold, but Sebastian had immediately known what was happening inside him and the demon didn't want his contractor to feel worse than he already did. Speedily the raven haired man had asked Carmiza to take care of the two other guests (now completely ignoring the fact that the red haired woman was an invitee too. After all they had spent so much time at each other's manors that they almost alternately lived at one another's places) and then he had shoved the boy out of the lounge. Ciel had been angry – told him to let him talk to Elizabeth, but the demon had refused. Ciel would only hurt her in a state like that.

The usually so prideful teen was now angry and sad, but also determined. If there was anything he could do to make Elizabeth's life – no, _death_ – better, then he would gladly do it.

Suddenly the double doors were opened. Sebastian entered quietly, shutting the doors behind himself. He glanced down at the tensed boy next to him.

Ciel sat curled up against the wall – yet another of his new favourite things, besides purring, that is – making himself as small and unnoticeable as he could, with his arms against his knees and neck bent down. Even though he managed it quite well, it wasn't good enough to escape Sebastian's emotionless stare. He sighed and buried his face even deeper in his knees, hiding from the demon's gaze.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ciel whispered in a stern voice. "Anything _you_ can do? I'll give you whatever you want, if you can make her…" his voice died slowly. What did he want Sebastian to do to her? Give her life back? Send her to Earth? She was dead now.

"As tempting as the payment sounds", Sebastian replied tenderly, "there's nothing I can do." He achieved a very dirty look from Ciel and restrained himself from smirking. He was sure his contractor wouldn't appreciate such amused expressions in a situation like this.

Sebastian had briefly explained everything to the confused teen: Elizabeth had been shot and already died on her way to the hospital, and during that time Grell had been the Shinigami in duty in London. When he had been about to collect her soul and show her the way to Heaven, Elizabeth had managed to trick him into making a deal with her. Together they travelled down to Hell, where she would "save" Ciel (she thought he was already devoured, so she was really just out for her second revenge - but she knew Grell wouldn't have agreed to the plan, so she lied about her intentions) and promised that that way Grell would get a chance to meet Sebastian again. As a Shinigami, Grell was able to move between the dimensions quite easily and Elizabeth was a great manipulator – and he was as idiotic as always – and because of that, she had managed to convince him to take them to Hell, where they had found both Sebastian and his new pet.

Ciel shuddered when the thought about Elizabeth's determination and all the sacrifices she had done for him.

The dark demon's expression grew more serious. "Ciel, you should sleep."

"That won't help", the boy replied coldly, "can I meet Lizzie now?" He didn't like asking, but what else could he do? Sebastian was too strong and fast, there was no way he would succeed with slipping away just like that.

The raven haired man crouched down in front of his small contractor. His eyes were dark and his lips were pressed against each other in an almost distressed way. "No, not before you've slept properly. A few hours naps once in a while doesn't make good to your health, bocchan, and you know it too. Elizabeth can wait, she isn't going anywhere."

Ciel buried his face in his knees. He still didn't want to meet Sebastian's gaze. _"Does he think I'm weak? Maybe pitiful? I shouldn't be sad, it makes me look soft. Why did he just grab me and drag me here? He should have let me talk to her and if not for my sake, at least for his own amusement! Isn't this what he wants and likes? Humiliating and shocking me, toying with me like a cruel child plays with his broken puppets? This was his perfect chance to make fun of me and he just took me away from there."_

"What kind of nightmares have you been having?" Sebastian asked, not aware of his contractor's poisonous thoughts. Last time he had wondered about the boy's dreams, Elizabeth had abruptly interrupted them and Ciel hadn't said anything more about the topic… but the demon couldn't forget about it. "Please tell me." He walked over to the drawer and started to dig through the clothes there, just to look like he was busy doing other things than questioning Ciel.

The feared question was out, hanging in the air. Ciel gulped and shut his eyes for a few seconds. "Do I have to talk about it?" he muttered frustrated. "If you're not going to help me, why are you here?"

Ciel knew that Sebastian would never leave him alone, if he didn't answer that damned question either honestly or in a complex way enough, but there was also absolutely _no way_ in hell that he would confess about the embarrassing dreams he had been having. It was the ultimate dilemma and the deadline would be there sooner than what he wanted it to.

"Yes, Ciel, I want to hear about them." Sebastian frowned and turned around, so he could face the anxious teen. "I am here because I actually care about you, believe it or not. Please answer my question now."

Slowly Ciel straightened his neck and met Sebastian's cold crimson gaze. He stared at the demon with a plain expression "I, eh…" the cat looking boy's tail droop: it was hanging down, completely immobilised. He stared at Sebastian for a moment, then let his gaze drop. It really seemed like Sebastian was serious and he didn't talk in his usual commanding and ignorant voice. He wanted to know what was going on with his contractor's dreams and he was ready to wait out Ciel's stubbornness if that was what it took. The demon raised his eyebrows, waiting for the continuance.

"I've been having _nightmares_ about you." Ciel made sure to stress what kind of dreams he had been seeing, so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings. He felt a bit defeated, but chased the emotion away. If he wanted to play the _real _game, he had to win Sebastian to his side first and also try to be honest with his… _feelings._

The teen's blush was entirely out of his control and there was no way for him to hide it. He did a desperate try through burying his face in his knees as deep as he could: only the cat-ears peaked up when he was ready. Sebastian pressed his lips together - the only change in his appearance that disclosed his dissatisfaction - while he let his gaze travel up and down Ciel's tense body. He had assumed that the answer would be either this or maybe that the same nightmares that Ciel had dreamt during his human life had started to hunt him again, but apparently it wasn't anything like that.

"What did I do in them?" Sebastian asked softly. "We have to make the dreams disappear, otherwise you will fall ill. I'm serious, Ciel."

There was no reply for a minute or two. The delicate boy hugged his own shins and the tail laid still. Sebastian would have supposed that the young male was dead, if it wasn't for the sharp, quiet breaths and the fast heartbeats. He watched his contractor closely. The boy radiated some sort of desperation and fear, which ordered Sebastian's subconscious to try to relieve the teen's distress. The same voice in his mind also shouted at him to leave the room, as he knew that he in fact _was_ the reason for the suffering.

_"__What should I do? It really is like keeping a wounded animal in a cage", _Sebastian thought, frustrated with himself.

"Do I have to tell?" the concerned teen asked grumpily, still not facing his demon contractor. "It really doesn't matter."

The answer was very expected. Ciel had knew it all the time, but he tried to win time _and_ he had hoped for a nice surprise. "_Yes_, Ciel."

In fact, asking such a question did nothing but harm. The teen felt the compelling tingling in his right eye, when the contract that tied him and the demon together was turned on. Had Sebastian intentionally made his previous request an actual order or was the bond just randomly activated when Ciel tried to drag on?

When he first answered, it was in a very low voice – so low that even Sebastian couldn't hear the words that he mumbled into his knees. The demon sighed irritated and commanded Ciel to repeat the response. The fragile boy didn't raise his head, but instead increased the volume. His voice was still a bit muffled – but now strong enough to be heard.

"I've been dreaming very strange dreams about you and I don't want to tell you about them. They're embarrassing enough as they are and I can't sleep because of it. Satisfied?"

Sebastian stared shocked at the small male, who sat curled up against the wall. He could see it on the boy and he just intuitive _knew_ that Ciel had told him the truth just now. Even though the teen was a great actor and skilfully hid his feelings, he could never lie without exposing himself; it was all thanks to his new cat-features, since he couldn't control them well enough yet. Even now the ears pointed down, proving his words to be correct.

"I see."

It was all Sebastian said, before shutting the drawer and leaving the room. Ciel heard soft steps and how the doors were opened, then shut and locked, but he didn't move, not even one bit. He continued to concentrate on his breath, but now he thought less about Elizabeth and more about Sebastian. The demon had been serious – and then suddenly left. There was something he was missing, he was sure about it.

There was a loud "click" when the door was locked, but Ciel didn't look up. He didn't move; barely even breathed. Right, now he had confessed and Sebastian had accepted it all and just… walked away?

_"__What the hell?" _Ciel thought. _"Was he laughing at me? Does he thinks I'm dumb and pitiful? Well, I probably am, but… still." _He swallowed. _"Is he disgusted by me? I'm just a puny human… No, I'm _his pet_, of all things."_

He sat alone in the bedroom, frozen on that one spot and curled up like a terrified cat. His tail was wrapped around his arm and his neck was hurting because of the unnatural position, but Ciel didn't care. He didn't want to be there, but there was nowhere else he could go either. Sebastian was cracking him and slowly tearing up his well-built façade, revealing his true, pathetic self. As if Elizabeth hadn't done enough already.

_"__I'm disgusted by myself", _Ciel understood, now feeling extremely weak, _"why does Sebastian bother to keep me alive? He should devour me now. Or is this the whole 'hunt' for him? Is this what demons usually do with their contractors? Is having Elizabeth down here just fun for him?"_

He wasn't sure about how much time went, but he didn't move. He thought about the dreams he had had and he thought about his former betrothed. She had chosen to make the deal with Grell all by herself, but he couldn't help feeling guilty about it. She hadn't had a hard childhood like him, she hadn't made a contract with a sinful demon. She shouldn't have been sent to Hell.

He was just about to decide that he should probably try to call on Sebastian and demand for some sort of response, when an unforeseen noise surprised him.

"Are you alright, Ciel?"

Ciel jumped high, showing his teeth and hissing scared because of the unexpected, soft voice. His whole body was tensed up and his gaze was bewildered when he frenetically looked around, searching for the source of the sound, exactly like a suffering animal.

Sebastian stood a few metres away, looking down at the teen with an emotionless expression – nothing but his eyes moved a little, when he followed Ciel's motions, waiting for the easily broken boy to calm down. He was physically pained by the younger male's appearance. Had he really done this to his contractor?

When Ciel had made sure that it really was only Sebastian who had quietly sneaked in – probably with the help of his demon powers – he collapsed to the floor, a little shaken by the sudden adrenaline peak he had had. Slowly he started to curl up to a small ball again, but now slightly shivering.

"Are you alright, Ciel?" Sebastian repeated and squatted down in front of the boy. "Answer me."

The boy shook his head softly, with is eyes tightly shut. He had lost his previous pride and coldness – he didn't care anymore if Sebastian saw him like this. After all, he had confessed one of the most embarrassing things for only a few hours (or maybe minutes, he didn't knew anymore) ago and there wasn't much to be arrogant over.

Sebastian stared at Ciel with narrowed eyes, but the young man didn't meet his gaze. What was he supposed to do, without making it worse? Why didn't Ciel look at him? Was it shame, despise or anger?

A short moment passed and then strong, slender arms were wrapped around Ciel and picked him up. He opened his eyes in shock – and pure fear – and opened his mouth to tell Sebastian to let him go, but the demon had pressed his finger against Ciel's lips before any words were uttered. Both of them remained silent.

The raven haired man carried the fragile boy to the bed and put him down on the cool, fresh sheets. Ciel sat on his knees, supporting himself with his hands and stared at his demon contractor with wide, observant eyes. The tall, immortal man bent down in front of him with a neutral expression.

_"__What is he going to do?"_ Ciel thought scared. He opened his mouth, once again, but Sebastian shook lightly his head, forcing Ciel to stay silent with the help of their contract. The brand in Ciel's eye started to tingle every time he considered saying something and he decided not to tempt fate.

"You're going to sleep", Sebastian said simply, "whether you like it or not."

Ciel swallowed greatly, still meeting Sebastian's gaze. He was just about to turn his head away, when the demon placed his hand on Ciel's neck, demanding for the boy's full attention.

"You do understand, Ciel, that if you don't trust me, there's no one else you can trust either?" Sebastian questioned in a sweet voice. "I've already told you this and I'm going to repeat as many times as it seems to be needed. Ciel, this is very simple. I do actually care about you and if you don't take care of yourself, then I either _force you_ to or then _I'll do_ _it_ myself. There's no other possible outcome for this, do you hear me? If I want you to stand around as a piece of _healthy _furniture, then you're going to do it, end of discussion.

"And I'm serious", Sebastian claimed, when he saw the doubt in his contractor's eyes. There was something else flickering in that gaze too, but the demon wasn't sure what it was. Some kind of… hope? "If you don't try to sleep, then I'll _make _you sleep."

"How?" Ciel muttered and batted his eyes. "I don't see the point in this. Why would you care?"

Sebastian rose, with his eyes still glued to Ciel's. He towered up over the petite boy and crossed his arms over his chest, pressing his lips together with a frustrated expression on his face. "I did motive my actions a moment ago, Ciel. I said that if I want you to do something, _you are_ going to do as I wish."

They stared at each other – Sebastian challengingly and Ciel nervously. Suddenly all the thoughts about Elizabeth had left his mind and all he could think about was Sebastian and the demon's way to talk to him. It was so demanding and still… it really seemed like the raven haired man cared.

_"__Let's not make any rushed assumptions, Ciel"_, he thought to himself and gulped, uneasily gazing down at his own body.

At last, the boy laid down on the large bed, yet again curled up. He felt safer when feeling his knees against his chest and arms hugging himself, even though he didn't know what could possible happen if he slept in a position more common among humans. It wasn't like Sebastian was going to tear his limbs apart in his sleep… hopefully?

"Right", he muttered, avoiding to look at the demon anymore. He shut his eyes and pretended to try to sleep.

_"__This is never going to work", _he realised after a few minutes of trying. _"It's useless."_

Sebastian understood the same thing, as he watched Ciel's anxious body lay there, curled up in such a scared position. He sighed quietly and walked soundlessly around the bed, taking off his overcoat and gloves. He left his shoes next to the drawer in the corner of the room and sat down on the other side of the king-sized bed, glancing at Ciel.

The young male had opened his eyes and stared now at the wall opposite of him, not know what he should do or expect. He kept his breath steady, but his pulse had been racing ever since Sebastian had frightened him by noiselessly sneaking into the room.

"I know you won't fall asleep like that", Sebastian said calmly and laid down on the bed too, intensively gazing at Ciel.

There was no answer, but the demon saw the shivers travel up and down the teen's spine.

"Come here", he demanded then, in a firm and yet compassionate voice, "now."

Hesitantly, Ciel turned around to face the much stronger man. Then he sat up - still trembling – and after a short moment of pondering he started to crawl closer, bit by bit.

_"__What am I doing? What is he doing?"_ Ciel let his teeth sink into his tongue and didn't say anything. He was afraid his voice would have betrayed him, if he had tried to. _"I don't want to do this."_

"I'm not going to hurt you", Sebastian stated, "In fact I'm going to sleep too, so there's no need to worry, I promise." He glanced at his contractor. "You trust me, right?"

_"__Do I? Yes? No?"_ Ciel batted his eyes and nodded.

Sebastian didn't have to order Ciel to lay down – he did it all by himself, even though he discreetly made sure not to touch the other man. _"He knows I have had dreams about him and now he wants me to sleep in the same bed… together with him? I'm confused. This is confusing. _He's _confusing."_

Nevertheless, Ciel felt much safer now. It was like that time he got wasted by drinking too much of Sebastian's blood and then curled up next to the demon – he knew instinctively that he could trust the raven haired male, even though there was a lot of strange things going on between the two of them.

It didn't take long before Ciel actually fell asleep, completely forgetting to worry about Elizabeth or anyone else either. Sebastian stared at the ceiling, quietly listening to the boy's soft snuffles. He glanced at the young male's back, now letting his eyes turn pink with desire. It was quite tiresome to hide the feelings all the time, but he would never admit it to anyone, not even Carmiza or Ciel - especially not Ciel.

He was just about to get up, when he heard low rustles of clothes and skin against satin. He turned towards the boy, who had restlessly rolled around and now snuggled against the demon, sighing in a low tone and pulling up his knees closer to his chest.

For a short moment Sebastian just appreciated the scent of the fragile boy – not just his souls tempting aroma – but his whole beings, his blood's and hair's vague fragrances. He valued Ciel's body's softness and delicateness, his strong feelings and his desperate tries to stay strong, even when everything was against him. No demon could be as breakable and weak as Ciel was – but they couldn't be this _tempting_ and lovable either.

Ciel's face and shins were pressed against Sebastian's body and now even his tail had wrapped itself around Sebastian's arm. The teen buried his face into the demon's side and let out a weak, pleading sound, then his whole body relaxed a bit more.

Sebastian turned his gaze away, yet again staring up at the ceiling above him. It didn't seem like he would be able to leave quite yet. Yes, he had lied to Ciel about trying to get some sleep and even though he now was "bound" to the bed, he still wasn't going to enjoy that rare luxury.

Demons don't dream while sleeping, their mind only rest silently in eternal, undisturbed darkness - it is the same as when a human body dies - and even though he could have actually dreamt something…

Well, he was quite sure there was no dream as sweet as the one he was currently experiencing.

**xXx**

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><p><strong>Hello there ^^<strong>

**I think this chapter turned out quite alright :) How do you feel about it?**

**Then again, _thank you (!) _for the favs, follows, reviews etc. I'm very happy, because your support really is needed! ^^ **

**In next chap Carmiza is going to have a short talk with Sebastian and she'll even take a little time to remember how she found out Sebastian's hopes on Ciel and how Ciel's soul had acted after his death... So stay tuned and I'll see you in the next update again ^^**


	20. Chapter 20

**Reminder: **Uggh. I try my best to entertain you and also to improve my English, feel free to correct me if there's something bothering you :)

**Disclaimer: **Yana Toboso owns Kuroshitsuji

**Err... Well. My teacher will probably kill me if she gets to know about my way of writing flashbacks in this fic, but I don't trust my English skills enough to do this any other way, so: I have written all the flashbacks in _italics_ and hopefully it will be easier to read & understand like that, even if it's everything but correct. Sorry :/**

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><p>Just because Ciel didn't always have full control over his tail, it didn't mean he wouldn't be able to feel it.<p>

In fact, even though the tail didn't hurt as much as it had done in water, it was still one of his most sensitive body parts. He could feel it in his dreams and when he slowly woke up, he could sense how he was slightly pushed further away.

It was a rather small and unnoticeable movement and if it hadn't been for his tail, he wouldn't have known about it. Unfortunate for Sebastian, Ciel _did_ note the difference and he had to admit that he was a bit confused about it. Why would Sebastian move Ciel when the demon thought that he still slept?

He parted his left eye and glanced at the dark demon, who stared up into the ceiling with an emotionless face.

"Did you sleep well?" the man asked in a low, clear voice and gazed at Ciel from the corner of his eye.

"Mm." The teen sat up and rubbed his eyes, careful not to come too close to the raven haired man next to him. To tell the truth, Ciel hadn't slept this good in a very, very long. Last time had to be sometime during his human life, but he couldn't recall any particular night's sleep to be as sweet as this had been. He hadn't seen any nightmares or detestable dreams either, for the matter. He could remember one short dream, but it had been about him studying French together with his "teacher" Sebastian and nothing interesting had happened, except for the past tense of irregular verbs.

"Good." The demon got off the bed and walked over to the drawer, slowly starting to dress himself. He felt his contractor's gaze follow his graceful movements, but ignored it. Ciel yawned and let out a small meow-like sigh. Sebastian could hear the boy shrug in discomfort and smirked faintly – that groan was one of the most adorable sounds the demon could imagine, and the best about was it that it was _that teen_ who had made it.

Ciel looked at Sebastian, as the tall man had dressed himself and picked out new clothes from the drawer, which he then gave to Ciel.

_"__When did he move my clothes here?"_ Ciel thought a bit distracted. _"I can't remember anything like that. On the other hand, I shouldn't be amazed by something like this, it is Sebastian after all. Besides, it also seems like he has an unlimited amount of clothes in my size. How convenient." _The last thought was so sarcastic, that even Sebastian could observe the change in Ciel's mood. The demon glanced at the teen with narrowed eyes, but handed over the neatly folded clothes without uttering a word about it.

"Put these on. I'll be back soon enough."

He didn't wait for the young male's reply, but left the room unnaturally fast.

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><p>Carmiza waited in the living room on the second floor, staring out at the landscape through one of the windows there.<p>

She had left Elizabeth at the girl's room and given her the precious advice to sleep when she could. The young blonde woman had nodded with a serious, yet thankful expression on her face. It was as if she understood far more than she was supposed to and carefully took in all information she could come over; in other words she resembled Carmiza in more than one way, even though she was human. The much older woman had caught herself fancying the blonde girl's purposefulness and well-hidden strength.

As the red haired demon stared peacefully out the window, she hoped that Sebastian wouldn't do anything too drastic while left alone with his "pet". She understood her friend, but some things she just didn't get. Why did that raven haired man keep insisting that Ciel had to be publically humiliated? Was it a thing between just the two of them, something she would never understand since she was an outsider or did Sebastian try to make Ciel hate him?

It was shameful, but besides Elizabeth (who would probably wake up rather soon, if she wasn't up already), Carmiza had started to mind about other humans too: she had liked Ciel from the very moment she had seen him in that lounge, awkwardly sitting on that plush, red couch and not knowing what to do. That boy had an extremely tasty soul and every demon existing would have agreed with her. He was cute – maybe handsome in some childlike way – and he knew what he was doing (most of the time). He chose his goals and he _completed them_, no matter what.

Carmiza would have hunted him down and made him her own, if it wasn't for the clear brand in the teen's eye and soul. Sebastian had left pieces of himself all over the boy; he had made sure that no one would dare to lay even one finger on his property. Carmiza didn't doubt Sebastian for even one second, when he had told her that he hadn't taken Ciel's soul purposely with him down to Hell. It was _Ciel _who was attached to Sebastian and since the demon never consumed him, the contract had compelled him to follow his "servant" to Hell, _as if_ he had been devoured – he was now a part of the demon, simply.

_"__But", _she thought and turned around with a wide smile on her face, _"It also seems like Ciel is happily unaware of this fact. He doesn't know that he's Sebastian's in every possible way, exactly like he doesn't know that Sebastian is _his _likewise. How tragic. I've always hated romantic dramas, I've avoided them as good as I've could, but I must admit that _this particular_ story is very fascinating. When all of this over, I'll tease both of them for it until the very end."_

As expected, Sebastian had entered the room during Carmiza's dreaming and now glanced at her. She could sense his pulsating presence - to her it felt like if he was really worked up about something – and she couldn't hold back her giggles. It seems like Ciel had managed to give Sebastian a rare, yet exciting, experience.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked and walked over to her. "For a change."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she replied and grinned maliciously, intentionally leaving the question unanswered.

The raven haired demon was in her reach and now she stretched out her hands to grab his coat. Slowly she came closer to him, until there was only a few centimetres between their lips. She smirked still and let her fingers unhurriedly slid up and down the edge of his coat. Ciel's scent was all over Sebastian and she assumed the two of them had had been in very close touch just minutes ago.

"You know", she muttered and broke their gaze, now glancing at Sebastian's butler clothes, "green was my favourite colour."

"I thought it was red", Sebastian stated coldly, "you should have left him alone if you didn't want me to hit back and you know that."

"You're angry with me, aren't you?" Carmiza sighed and let go of the tall man's clothes. She turned to the window and stared out with a neutral expression. "I know you know that I've always preferred green over red." A total silent captured the whole room, embracing it with its deep awkwardness. "I helped you, Sebastian, by pulling the trigger. Ciel would be much more difficult to handle if it wasn't for me."

Sebastian let his cold gaze explore Carmiza's face. She was very beautiful, with pale skin, burning red hair and a few stripes of a lighter shade of red blended into the deeper, saturated colour. Even so, the most mesmerising detail about her were the eyes – pure crimson, big and framed by thick, night sky black lashes.

As he stared, she batted those aforementioned eyes, deep in her thoughts. When she didn't continue talking, he decided to take the opportunity. "Tell me, what did you ask him? He hasn't been the same after it."

The raven haired demon stared intensively at the red haired one. She sighed and glanced at him. Her eyes shone with colourful feelings and multifaceted reflections – Sebastian could almost see the complex strategies and plans she stored in her mind. He had always been a skilful player, but he never bothered to take it to the level Carmiza constantly played on – no matter the occasion, she was always there with her well-planned tactics.

"He should tell you himself", she said in a low, gentle voice. It almost sounded as if her thought was fluttering away, together with her usually so loud and cheerful voice.

"He won't tell", Sebastian replied coolly, "and it was you who asked the question, not him. Take a little responsibility for your actions, Carmiza."

She chuckled. The night had fell and spread its dark wings over Hell, but it was nothing like a night on Earth. Despite that, the _really _dark hours weren't permanent, not even in a corrupt place like Hell. Now the gloomy vail was ripped off and the cool dawn was rapidly changing into a warmer forenoon. Carmiza imagined all the beauty that her home dimension lacked – the feelings and fragile art of the moments and memories. Demons didn't appreciate it enough, not before they got so old that they started to despise themselves and the whole design of different ways of existing.

Sebastian and Carmiza had talked about it many times, but always in that complicated way of theirs. They were demons and they acted like that – less emotions, more silent understanding. It was a shame that they had never fallen for each other, since they would have formed the _ultimate_ team. Both of them had passed that age limit of hate and both of them detested Hell with their whole beings. Carmiza's cold heart had been ripped out long ago, when her mate had been killed and if it wasn't for Sebastian, she would have followed him right into the welcoming death – assuming that there was such a thing for demons.

There was no way, absolutely _no way_, that Carmiza would let Sebastian experience the same things and feeling she had fought and was still fighting. They had lived for more years than neither of them wanted to admit and all the time, Sebastian had managed to make his way through without falling in love. But a few years ago he went away – as frustrated as always – just to return with a wounded soul in his arms. She had seen his eyes when he had arrived at her manor, holding the most beautiful thing in his careful embrace.

_…_

_Ciel hadn't taken any form yet, but been a dark spirit, as all humans were when they first came to Hell. Sebastian had confessed that he had failed and his contractor has died, but the contract wouldn't vanish. When he had returned from Earth, he had found the soul at the entrance to Hell, _waiting_ for him. But instead of being dark and filthy, the teen's very core was light and pure, right underneath the shadowy shell of his._

_…_

"I am taking responsibility, Sebastian", the demoness said softly and shut her eyes, "all the time. Don't force him to tell you, it might take some time for him before he understands the meaning of my question."

Sebastian revealed his teeth and grimaced, while lowly growling. The sound was deep and animalistic – he truly meant it. "Carmiza…"

"Sebastian", she said curtly, tired of playing with the raven haired man.

_…_

_Before her mind's eye, she could see Sebastian's demon form slowly transform into his beautiful human figure when he had stood there on her doorstep. He had stared at her with bitterness in his eyes as he had carried the very easily breakable, tasty soul through her manor and into her bedroom, quietly explaining what had happened._

_She had listened and taken in every detail, while observing both Sebastian and the pained soul. Something had changed about her childhood friend; she had never before seen Sebastian actually care so much about something. He had always loved her as much as a demon could love their friends and she had responded in the same way, but this… _affection_ he showed to the soul, it was new. It was the same kind of frustrating caring as she had been feeling towards her own beloved._

_…_

"I would never hurt him."

Carmiza opened her eyes and looked at Sebastian, demanding for his whole attention. He stared back at her, without saying another word. He just looked at her, trying to think about a way to make her spit out the truth. She struck her gloved hands together, causing a very low, soft noise. Her satin dress rustled as she moved around, leaning closer into the dark demon.

_…_

_Back then, when Sebastian had come with the shadow of Ciel's former self with him, she had seen pure desperation. Sebastian hadn't wanted Ciel's soul there, but at the same time it was his everything._

_"__He died", Sebastian had said coldly, "he shouldn't be this deep down in Hell, Carmiza. How do I send him back?"_

_"__You don't", she had answered in a gentle voice and careful not to touch Ciel, afraid that she might quench the last, delicate flames of the defenceless being, "he's here now and he has clearly decided to be yours."_

_…_

"It doesn't seem like that", Sebastian said and grabbed Carmiza's arm, so she wouldn't try to walk away in the middle of the conversation, "you brought Ciel up in Joseph's presence too. I know you try to manipulate that man, but you could have done it more tastefully."

She glared at him. "Ciel already knew that he's fully depending on you. I believe it's only good for him to hear it from someone else than you too. Besides, now Joseph has been warmed that we know what he's up to."

_…_

_He had the same expression as he had had before, when he wasn't sure about what he should do. Ciel's soul had shifted and flickered a lot and both Carmiza and Sebastian had had problems to restrain themselves and all the other demons at the manor from devouring that poor boy. Soon he had taken a solid form, also with ears and a tail. Sebastian's gaze had been both terrified and enthusiastic at the same, but his facial expression was like set in stone._

_"__Oh my," Carmiza had giggled and extremely gently petted the soft ears, "don't you like cats, my dear Sebastian? I wonder… did these come to satisfy your strange desires or because _he wanted to_ please you?"_

_His face had been priceless. Before long he had scooped up the unconscious boy and left, with Carmiza's promise that she would come and visit them soon enough._

_…_

"Carmiza… What am I doing with him?"

They continued to stare at each other. The tall male let his hand drop down to his side, letting her go. She looked surprise at him, but then gently smiled and put her arms around him, softly pressing her face against his chest.

He had never in his whole life embraced her back, but she knew he didn't have anything against being hugged by her. It was strange – usually demons killed each other, everyone on their mad journey to get more and more power – but Carmiza was more humanlike than even many humans were. In her own way she was strong and unbreakable, but also soft and sweet.

"It takes a lot of time", she purred sympathetically, exactly knowing _who_ the raven haired demon talked about.

Sebastian looked down at her red hair. She had always helped him and the other way around, but this seemed to be one of the few things she couldn't assist him in.

_"__Or maybe she does want to help me in this, but can't. It's possible that she doesn't know what to do either," _he realised and sighed quietly.

_…_

_Carmiza had thought that it would be all clear and sugary when Ciel would wake up, but instead he had been exactly like before dying. He had been terrified over the ears and the tail, he had demanded for answers and being hateful and difficult. He didn't know that he had followed Sebastian to Hell, he wasn't aware of any of it – he had only hated all the demons, Hell and himself. _

_Sebastian had sent a message to Carmiza, pleading her to tell about a way to send Ciel back to Earth or Heaven – whereever he belonged to. He had insisted that there was no way that Ciel was meant to be in Hell. She had been both shocked and furious about the news and decided that she should advance her visit from what was planned. She had also told him to _absolutely not_ let go of the problematic boy, otherwise she would kill him. In fact, she had been the one to encourage Sebastian to carry out his desires to own the boy, scared that the raven haired man would give up for good. After all, this was a new situation for both him, her and the whole underworld._

_…_

"I think he likes you", Sebastian said suddenly. Carmiza let go of him and took a step back, widely smiling.

"You think? I'm really glad he doesn't _hate_ me at least. It would be troublesome, yet understandable, since I've done some really horrible things to him." She laughed gleefully and turned around. "But they're nothing like the things _you've _done. If you want to, I can try to help you, Sebastian, but then I don't want you to try to punish me for being nice." Carmiza headed towards the door, glancing at the raven haired demon over her shoulder.

"Hm." He muttered and met her gaze with a neutral expression. "You'll do it anyways, no matter what I say."

She let out a sincere, sweet laugh. "True, you know me all too well! When I come to think of helping you… that Shinigami Grell Sutcliff is a rather interesting persona, don't you think?"

"No", Sebastian answered honestly and stared coldly at her, "what have you done?"

"Nothing… Yet." She smirked and waved slightly to him. "I should go and check on Elizabeth now. You've changed into such a _nice_ person lately, I can't stand you anymore." She continued to laugh, as she opened the door, but stopped right there, with her hand on the knob. "You want me to watch over him for the rest of the day, don't you? I noticed that you've been locked up at your room for over ten hours and your timetable can't really afford you that much free time, am I right? Tell him to come here, I'll watch him." Then she walked away, still giggling.

But when she was out of his ears reach, she ended her laugh abruptly, quietly heading towards Elizabeth's room. Her expression was plain - there was no other way to describe it.

Yes indeed, this was one of the few romantic dramas she was ready to involve herself in, partly because it was her childhood _friend's_ _love_, partly because that particular friend's strange choice of _lover_.

After all, Sebastian was the first demon ever to permanently fall in love with a human soul - and to make sure that that soul would love him back was a rather risky task.

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><p><strong>Hey ^^<strong>

**Thank you for taking your time to read this little thing and please review if it feels like that :) All the reads and love you've sent me is highly appreciated, really! ^^ ****I have and will take notes about all of the request/suggestions you give me, but because I'm always a few chapters ahead of the one I publish, I can't write the ideas right away :/ I try to customise them into the chaps I'm currently writing instead, but it doesn't always fit in... Eh, yeah :(**

**Next ch: Carmiza will steal the show once again and entertain the whole party with a "bedtime story". Friedrich (whose name resembles a lot Diedrich's, I notice now... *sigh*) will keep his vow about helping Ciel to realise things, Jospeh will be as distressed as always and Ciel will _finally_ get _that one thing_ that we all have known since chapter 1 xD So be sure to check it out at the end of this week, when I - hopefully - will update again :)**

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><p><span><strong>Some random explaining you can skip with ease:<strong>

**I actually first sketched this as a 30 chapters story, but now I know that I misjudged the length and I estimate it will be +/- 35 chaps instead. I'm not sure, but something like that (or more... I do have a story-line, it's just that the ****implementation might get more complicated than it should...****), probably. When I write, I always have multiple "stories" and I try to balance them so it would as interesting as possible (for instance, in this fic I there is the main plot about Ciel dying and trying to adjust to Hell. Then there's other stories around it, one about Sebastian's and Ciel's relationship and one about Alois etc. You get it, don't you?) I have to admit that I have actually written some of the already published chaps from Sebastian's point of view, but then I edited/deleted them, because... I didn't like the way I portrayed him. I like to write it, but at the same time I feel like I spoil him. I'm currently sketching ch 24 and I'll try to write it from his PoW, okay? :) And this time I'll work hard and _not_ delete it! ^^**

**Then there's this other thing... I haven't categorised this story "drama" because I like the sound of the word, but for a more logical reason. You can expect that the rope is going to be pulled back and forth ****_quite _****a lot - as it has been during this whole story. But please hold on, I am now working at ch 23 and at least ****_I_**** think that's a bit more… eh… ****_intense_**** chapter, from the SebaCiel aspect, at least. I have intentionally made the whole "I love you"- process slow, because I think it's ridiculous that Ciel would just flatly fall for Sebastian. But also *gulps* I have to confess that... (eh, how do I say this nicely?)... I've never been a hardcore shipper for _anything_. I'm also not capable of writing anything too "hot" because it would be nothing but hilarious - and not in a good way!**

**So these are my excuses... :( Sorry for dragging on with the plot! I know this is a very cliche fanfic in it's own ways, but most of it is purposely done, so don't take it too seriously. I'm very new to all of this, because I usually just fangirl all by myself/with friends and I'm not sure about how I should act & write to please other fans. I do this for fun. (As you can guess, I have been on the Internet, guys. I have seen _faaaaaaar_ too many "real Kuroshitsuji fans" who takes it way to seriously. Why do those people bother to read fanfic etc etc when they hate it? *sigh* I didn't use to read any of these just half a year ago, but then I thought, why the hell not? I love writing and if I want to do it like this, then that should be fine, shouldn't it?)**

**Sorry for the awfully long A/N & rant, I just had to put it out here in case there are some "real fans" out there hating me for "ruining" the whole concept of Kuroshitsuji. I know I do it, right!? And I think almost all of the other authors know they do it too. _Only_ Yana Toboso can write the real thing - no one else. If you don't want to see Ciel fall for Sebastian _then get the fuck out_ and just read the manga and watch the anime - no one forces you to like that pairing! Phew.**

**I had a bad day today. A really, _really_ bad day.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Reminder: **Short poem about a true story: "English grammar is difficult / And I suck at it / Sorry" ^^

**Disclaimer: **I make no money when I write this and even if I could, I wouldn't. Yana Toboso created Kuroshitsuji and all of its characters :)

**That flashback thing is the same as in the last chapter :)**

**~XxX~**

When Sebastian had left, Ciel had no other choice than to obey the demon. He made a quick visit to the bathroom and then changed his outfit quite slowly - he even folded the clothes he had stripped minutes ago, everything to pass time without actually laze. In the end, he had done everything he could to make time flow - and then he had to try to fasten the eye-patch over his eye. He grimaced, put the light piece of leather in front of his closed right eye and then fumbled with the thin strings in a pathetic attempt to tie them. It wasn't an impossible task, no, not at all – it was just very difficult for someone like Ciel, who had lived his whole life like a rich nobleman should. He had had servants that helped him with every little thing whenever he asked for it and now it was backfiring.

Of course, the raven-haired man had to return just in that moment. Ciel heard the door open and close behind him, but he ignored it with a neutral expression on his face, not going to admit that he had difficulties to tie a knot behind his own head.

"My, my", Sebastian murmured.

Ciel felt his demon contractor's slender, nimble fingers gently take the strings from his fingers and he let his own hands drop, knowing that otherwise he would only be in the way. As expected, the eye-patch was on in no time.

"I have some things to do", Sebastian said and looked down at Ciel's narrow shoulders, "so I won't have the time to supervise you. You should go to the living room and play chess with Carmiza or something. Elizabeth is most likely there too."

The teen turned his head slightly to the left, so he could glance at Sebastian's dark presence out of the corner of his eye. He felt a slight relieve in his chest, but didn't say anything about it. It seemed like the demon had dragged Ciel out of the lounge only to let his contractor sleep and think over the new information. Was that just a nice gesture or was there something lying behind, something that Ciel didn't know about?

Sebastian sauntered over to the door and pushed it wide open. Quietly he watched Ciel pass him and stroll out to the hallway. He shut the door behind the short teen and was just about to walk away, when his contractor started to say something.

The small male shut his mouth and shook his head lightly. He turned away from the demon, so he wouldn't have to face the butler dressed man. "Sebastian, I…" He swallowed and glanced at the tall man behind him. He felt like he needed to express his strange feelings somehow, but since he had never learned how to be nice and not so hateful, his words sounded a little bit too stiff and memorised. A little credit at a time like this wasn't anything extreme or significant, but it was quite much coming from the former Earl.

"Thank you."

He uttered the words proudly, with a very ignorant tone – it was almost sounding as if he didn't meant it. After all… what was he thanking for? That Sebastian had slept with him – in the actual meaning of "sleeping", having dreams and stuff, of course. Ciel could _never_ think about it as anything else, no, that was a big _nope_ – or that the demon now let him see Elizabeth? Maybe he was grateful for the fact that he was still "alive" and with his soul left intact, now when he was at it for once?

"Hm." Sebastian smirked slightly, but the boy didn't see that, because he stared out into the empty hallway. "Hopefully we'll see exactly _how _thankful you are, at some point. Please go now." Then the demon vanished, just like that.

Ciel was left alone in the corridor, suspiciously glaring around. After a few seconds reluctance, he headed towards the lounge on the same floor, hoping that he wouldn't meet anyone on his way there. Good thing for him that he had learn by heart the route between the bedroom and the living room; otherwise he would have lost his way in the spacious manor - that was a sure thing.

_"What was that statement supposed to mean? More importantly, why did I thank him in the first place? I should have kept my mouth shut, now he might think that I've grown to like him or something similar to it. I really don't have the time to sit around and worry about his plans. He's probably going to test me again, or something."_

Finally, Ciel found the right door. He inhaled deeply and put his hand on the doorknob.

Why did he feel so anxious now, when Sebastian had left him like that? Wasn't this exactly what he had wished for – a little time unrestricted by the raven-haired demon?

Suddenly Ciel didn't feel like Elizabeth needed the most attention. Oh no, it was _Sebastian_. But why would he need that? Moreover, how was Ciel supposed to give the demon his _attention_ when the man clearly didn't want it? He was just a "pet" now; he was a problem, a nuisance Sebastian should want to get rid of.

Sighing he opened the door. He had to deal with the dark demon later – now Elizabeth demanded for the care. Not that Ciel was the best man to give others something like that.

**~XxX~**

Carmiza sat on the plush couch, leaning her chin against her gloved knuckles and with both of her feet pulled up below her. She didn't feel like sitting in a well-mannered way – not like the blonde woman on the other side of the low table.

Elizabeth held her porcelain teacup gracefully in her hand and sipped water from it every now and then. Her new "companion" had suddenly rushed into her room and insisted that they should come up to the living room to spend time and since Elizabeth had already been awake for some time (she had just sat in her room, thinking things over) and didn't have anything better to do, she had agreed to the offer.

It was very warm in the lounge, since it was already heating up before lunch and the young woman felt like stripping of her dark dress and go and sit in some shadowy corner. She had noticed that the demons didn't seem to be provoked by the temperatures, but _she_ was and yet she could keep a straight face and not complain about it.

_"Has Ciel been living like this all the time?"_ she thought a bit frustrated. _"He must hate this place and all the demons, and yet he's so cold against me when I came to save him… As if nothing had changed from before his death. Doesn't he want to escape Hell?" _Elizabeth really hoped her former betrothed was all right, when he had left together with Sebastian in such a hurry.

The red haired demon smiled all the time, but she didn't say anything, only glanced at the door once in a while, as if she was waiting for someone to join them. Elizabeth let her gaze travel up and down Carmiza's dress. It was enormous, frilly and bright red, with many small details in white and grey colours. If it had been on Earth, Elizabeth would have been envious, but in a situation like this, she really didn't care. The colour of the beautiful outfit matched Carmiza's wavy hair and her whole appearance resembled a lot Madame Red's, when she still had been alive.

_"I wonder where the Madame is now", _Elizabeth thought and turned her gaze to the grumpy, brown haired demon in the armchair next to hers.

Carmiza had shortly introduced them to each other and Elizabeth had at once decided that she didn't like this man, who apparently was called Joseph. He looked way too hungrily and lustfully at her to make the meeting _comfortable. _But, Elizabeth was raised a lady and Hell didn't change it. She small talked in a pretended cheerful voice as long as she had to, just to appear as polite as possible, and then she concentrated on drinking her water. If she had to choose between Joseph and Friedrich, it would be the white haired demon – any time.

That aforementioned man had arrived to the lounge just minutes after the brown haired demon. He had asked if Elizabeth was thirsty and then he had just sort of… stayed in the room, leaning on one of the short walls, supervising the others without any real reason to be there.

Carmiza was bored. Bored, bored, _bored_. She used to baffle people, trick them and laugh at them, but now there was no one she could entertain herself with. Sebastian acted weird – for a reason, but anyways – and Ciel was off-limits, since his _owner_ would probably kill her if she did something too drastic. Even though Carmiza was probably the closest demon to Sebastian, Ciel was even closer and if the raven-haired man had to choose between the two of them, it would be Ciel anytime, anywhere and Carmiza knew it.

She also suspected that it wouldn't be fun to try to baffle Elizabeth, not in a way she used to play around with other people. Elizabeth was too good-hearted and protective towards Ciel, and if Carmiza tried to trick the girl, then it would end up in a total disaster. Friedrich had never been any fun – well actually, if she remembered correctly, he _had been_ a rather humorous person, but that was before meeting Sebastian – and Joseph was so scared of Carmiza that he would run away if the realised that she toyed with him again.

How utterly boring, indeed. The red haired woman shifted position and felt a vague presence – a very tasty fragrance – from outside the living room's door. An almost invisible smirk played on her lips, when she remembered the last time she had messed with Ciel. It had just been a harmless chess game and an innocent question – only a very imperceptibly conversation between the two of them – but it hadn't turned out to be a good move or at least it didn't please Sebastian all too much.

_…_

_Sebastian came into the living room as calmly as always, but his eyes burned with hate and frustration. She didn't have the time to come and meet him, before he had pushed her against the wall behind her, and exposed his sharp teeth._

_"What did you tell him?" he growled and shook her shoulders. "Are you out of your right mind?"_

_She smiled widely. Oh, how much fun this really was! She refused to answer the question, but laughed only. "You seem upset, my dear Sebastian."_

_"You did something to him!" Sebastian said in a low, threatening voice. "What did you say?"_

_"Why do you suspect me for doing something?" Carmiza questioned, as she reached out for Sebastian's chest and gently pulled him closer to herself. They stared at each other for a short moment. "Why?"_

_He wasn't faster nor stronger than she was. Whenever the two of them took the measure of each other, they always ended up with a draw. They simply were equal in everything, but this time Sebastian had the upper hand, since he was actually furious. Carmiza acknowledged that and didn't even try to get away, since she knew he wouldn't be satisfied until he had let off the steam and got to punish her somehow. An angry demon was one thing and an angry demon in love was a completely another case._

_"I'll ask this only once more", Sebastian had whispered and narrowed his eyes, "what did you say to him?"_

_"What do you think I said?" she replied in a sugary voice, not even trying to pretend to be innocent._

_That was it – she had cracked him and before she could open her mouth to say anything else, she felt how she collapsed to the floor with nothing but her underwear on._

_Sebastian had destroyed her dress in less than a split-second. There was nothing but bits and pieces laying on the ground around them. She batted her eyes in surprise. A wide smirk spread across her face, when she lifted her chin to face the violent demon, who now towered over her._

_"I see", she said softly, "he didn't tell you anything, you just concluded that it had to be me, all by yourself. I asked him a question, Sebastian, but he never answered it. If he's upset or confused, it's not because of me, but his own thoughts. I merely gave him an idea."_

_Sebastian stared intensively at her, following her every movement. He knew that she didn't lie, but he still wanted to know the question._

_She wouldn't tell about it. She would happily laugh, even if Sebastian would actually try to kill her. Carmiza had lost most of the meaning of her existence and she hated her life. Toying with Ciel's mind was just a way for her to endure the boredom and pass some time. They both knew that she would leave Ciel alone after this – the red haired demon wouldn't do it again, not at least this radically, now when she had had her fun and then realised how strongly she had affected the two contractors._

_"He's confused and scared, Carmiza", Sebastian hissed, "I do believe you went easy on him, but even so, you crossed the limit."_

_Carmiza pressed her lips together and gazed at Sebastian with sorrow in her eyes. "I challenged him, but maybe I should have done it some other way." She touched her uncovered thigh and sighed, changing the topic once again. "You destroyed it completely."_

_He stared at her, waiting for her to say something. She leaned her now bare hand against her cheek and looked up at Sebastian. Her chest hurt with all the overwhelming emotions – mostly just memories of feelings from the time her soulmate had been around – when she saw the clear desperation in Sebastian's aura. She had been in love too, she should know._

_"Oh my…" she murmured and stood up. Sebastian took a step back, measuring her exposed body, trying to predict her following movements. "…you need to take better control over your feelings, Sebastian. It's only me now, you know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, but other people might try to. In fact…" she wiped away a few pieces of satin that had fell into her hair, "I am now paying back my debt to you. For a very long time, it has always been I who have needed things, right? Well, I don't need anything anymore, but you do, so I'll help you."_

_He stared at her and she smiled cheerfully at him. "I deserved this." Then she came closer to him, brushing her lips against the corner of his. "You'll thank me, one day, like I thanked you."_

_Then she walked away, still smiling a sweet, innocent smile, leaving him to stand in the middle of the chaos, made out of her green satin dress._

_…_

She smirked when Ciel opened the door and scanned the room, nervously taking in all the details of his surroundings.

"Hello Ciel, please come in", Carmiza said airily and waved her hand towards him, "there's no need to be shy."

He swallowed and shut the door behind him. Elizabeth had put down her cup and jumped up, but restrained herself from pouncing upon him.

"Ciel! I didn't expect you to come! Where's Sebastian?" Elizabeth struck her hands together and looked at her former husband-to-be with wide, innocent eyes.

"He had something to do", Ciel muttered and walked over to the couch, where he sat down next to Carmiza, but his focused his gaze on Elizabeth all the time, "so he told me to join you."

"How much fun we're going to have!" the demoness exclaimed and straightened her back, putting her feet down on the floor. Sebastian had asked her to keep an eye on Ciel and since she really didn't have anything more important to do, she had agreed to it. Maybe this would relieve her boredom?

Friedrich glanced suspiciously at the small company around the table. What was Carmiza up to _now_? He had only heard that Elizabeth had told Ciel about her little secret, but Sebastian had never mentioned that Carmiza had any plan to interfere with.

"Lizzie, I-", Ciel frowned and looked at Elizabeth. What could he say? "I would have hoped you wouldn't have done this. I'm sorry you're dragged into this mess with me. I would have grant you so much… happier things."

"I know you would", she replied brightly. She wore one of her widest smiles and her eyes sparkled with genuine happiness, "but this was my choice, as was the revenge for your parents' sake yours. There's still things I'm supposed to do, Ciel, but we should probably talk about that later on." She waved her hand and giggled. "Please, don't worry. You always look so concerned about me. You know I can care for myself."

Her ex-fiancé blushed slightly, but now he looked a little bit angry too. "Of course I worry! Even though I know you're able to protect yourself."

"Can you promise me not to fret for me too much, Ciel?" She leaned a little bit closer, so her golden ponytails fell over her shoulder and framed her face. "Please, for me?"

Both Carmiza and Joseph looked at Ciel with reproachfully eyes. He glared at them, but then concentrated at Elizabeth again. "Err… Right. I promise."

She laughed joyfully and clapped her hands together. "Remember, that's a promise, Ciel!"

He nodded absent-mindedly and glanced at her a bit confused. How could she take all of this so lightly? She didn't cry, she didn't want him to make a fuss about it… She just accepted it: that she had died, because of him. She wasn't even angry.

A sudden, awkward silence fell over the living room. Joseph squirmed around a bit nervously, since he really didn't understand what everybody had been talking about, only that the young boy with cat features apparently worried about the cute, blonde girl. Even Carmiza realised that the tension in the room was growing a bit too heavy. Now was her chance to strike.

"What should we do now when we have cleared out all the confusion…?" the female demon laid her index finger against her lips, deep in her thoughts. She glanced at Joseph, who stared back at her with a tired expression. He doubted that this woman was a normal demon – no she had to be something extraordinary, since she contained such amount of energy. "Now I know! How about me telling a sweet little bedtime story? Yes, that sounds good, doesn't it? It will light up the mood, even for our dear, grumpy Ciel and oh, let's not forget about Friedrich." She laughed sweetly, earning irritated glances from both men she had openly teased.

Elizabeth's eyes grew bigger and she leaned eagerly closer to Carmiza, ignoring the badly hidden provocation. "Oh, what kind of story is it?"

Ciel had a hard time not to roll his eyes and sigh. Instead, he leaned back and looked at the others – he met Joseph's pained gaze and Friedrich indifferent look. What was Carmiza now going to do? Hopefully she would leave him alone with all her irritating questions, even though he understood her. When he wanted to know something, he did his best to get his answer – and the red haired demon did the same thing, just in a bit… more extreme way.

"It's called 'the demon's life cycle'", she replied, cheerfully clapping her hands, "exciting, eh?"

Joseph pressed his lips together and Friedrich bit his own tongue. Demons could be difficult to handle and do frustrating things, but Carmiza claimed the prize of being ludicrously crazy. If it wasn't for the power she had managed to get, other dark creatures would have killed her just because of her overly sugary nature.

"Ciel", she murmured and leaned closely to the small male next to her. He turned around to look at her and found her smiling face only a few centimetres from his own, "you should listen closely, this is a rather rare opportunity. Especially for you."

"R-right." He swallowed and she leaned back with an amused expression on her face.

"Where should we begin, Joseph?" the demoness asked and looked cheerfully smiling at the brown haired man, whose gaze flickered uneasily.

"Maybe from the beginning…?" he proposed, ruffling his hair. How had he ended up in the lounge, companied by that quiet demon, this red haired sadist and the two tasty souls? He should be negotiating with Sebastian, but now it was too late to walk away anymore, not without looking impolite at least and he knew that the red haired female would never forgive him for that.

_"Oh yes",_ he reminded himself sarcastically, _"Carmiza tricked me to this. Claude will be angry with me if I now make her irritated, I just have to endure this."_ Joseph clenched his teeth, trying to restrain himself from pouncing upon someone.

"You have such a dirty mind!" Carmiza laughed and gently slapped her thigh, while shaking her head. "Well alright, let's take it from the beginning." She pointed up with both of her index fingers and wiggled them in front of everyone, demanding for the attention. "Hmm… these are… yeah, these are Joseph's parents, my dear children."

Elizabeth and Ciel exchanged confused looks. What was Carmiza doing? Had she gone mad or was this once again one of her inappropriate, tasteless jokes? Friedrich seemed to be the only one amused – besides Carmiza, of course – since he slightly pressed his lips against each other and tautened his jaw, as if he tried not to smile openly.

"Joseph's dear old mother", the red haired woman said and wiggled her right index finger, "and his even older father", she gently shook her left hand. "These two are demons and they fall in love with each other."

Carmiza demonstrated "the fall" by letting both of her fingers drop, but then she straightened them again. "Are you still with me, children?"

Everybody stayed silent, since no one knew who she talked to. She let her hands drop and hit her palms rather violently against the table in front of her. "Please, I am trying to entertain you, but no one acts with me! This is going to be a very boring bedtime story, if you don't help me. Friedrich, come here!"

She pointed at the empty place on the couch, next to Ciel. The white haired demon frowned, but obeyed silently. The cat-boy moved quietly closer to Carmiza, so Friedrich would fit without problems and as a thanks the demon flashed a polite smile.

"Let's try this again", Carmiza announced and showed her gloved index fingers once again, "are you with me, children? I'll call you that, because I'm by far the oldest here."

Everyone nodded – even Joseph, who looked nothing but embarrassed. Why did he have to put up with this crazy woman? Why did she like to torture him?

"Okay, I think everyone knows the next part…" her smirk grew wider and wider, and her eyes sparkled with mischief. "When two demons fall in love, assuming that they're of opposite gender…"she gave Friedrich a very amused smile, but her eyes showed the bottomless desperation she felt at the same time, "then it's _only natural_ that they might want to…" Carmiza's gaze continued its travel from the white haired man to the brown one, "…reproduce."

She had taken off her gloves in no time, revealing her slender fingers and black nails. Both Ciel and Elizabeth batted their eyes in surprise, because the motion was too fast for them to register. The blonde woman's cheeks had started to blossom. Ciel felt the awkward and tensed atmosphere wrap itself around him, almost strangling him. It was clear that Carmiza loved to do this kind of things to other people – it was her own way to play sadistic games, where she could use her influence over others.

Slowly she made the tips of her fingers touch and then brush towards each other. "Joseph's parents love each other and they like to show their affection. Right, Joseph, your parents did like to do it?" She met Joseph's frustrated gaze, but he did nothing besides nodding. Carmiza's gleeful smile was about to crack her face in half. "Now these two are kissing, my dear children. I'm not going to show the rest of the act, because my fingerplay could never do justice to it… right Friedrich?"

Carmiza had ridiculed Friedrich countless times and he wasn't affected by it anymore. He met the red haired demon's gaze and nodded slightly to show his approval of the statement.

The demoness winked at him. "Or maybe I should show it, after all… I could teach the all of you a trick or two, you know."

The white haired man turned his gaze away, scanning Ciel and Elizabeth. The cat-boy's tail moved nervously around and the young woman had blushed bright red. _"Sebastian wouldn't like this… I hope she has some _really_ good explanation to act like this in front of Joseph and these human souls, otherwise she won't have any whole dresses left."_

"Back to the story!" Carmiza exclaimed and rolled her eyes, wiggling her fingers. "I lost myself in my thoughts. They say that's a sign for being old, you know?" She sighed and looked at "Joseph's kissing parents". "So now mama-demon is pregnant. She will carry the baby for a few months and then whoops!-..." Carmiza took her right thumb to help, acting like it was baby-Joseph. "Now we have three demons right here!"

Ciel furrowed his eyebrows. Did Carmiza make such an effort just to embarrass the brown haired man or what was she trying to tell them? She had also said that "especially" Ciel should listen to the story, but he couldn't detect anything worth knowing yet.

"And now there comes the interesting part", she whispered gently and smiled politely at Elizabeth, "this is one of the many differences between humans and demons, dear children. When mama- and papa-demon have a baby, they can together decide how the full-grown child looks like. They do it during those three months that little-Joseph resides inside his mother and all that time, both mama and papa experiences a terrible, _terrible_ pain."

Carmiza curled up her fingers into small balls. She looked down at Ciel, who sat next to her with a clearly pretended ignorant expression. "Only demons who actually love each other can have children, since they will have to share three months of torture. They get to decide how their baby looks like and then raise that demon-child in five years. Yes, it takes only three months and five years to grow up into an adult who can make contracts with humans."

She showed all the three fingers to everyone. Then - when she was sure that the information had sank into both Ciel's and Elizabeth's minds – she lowered both of her index fingers and left only the thumb up. "But demons can only fall in love once and that is usually their partner. The parents don't love their children, they only make them and raise them and when the eager youngling makes his first contract both mama and papa… poof, their gone."

Elizabeth's eyes grew big and a bit too glossy to be considered normal. Ciel looked at Friedrich from the corner of his eye and noted that the white haired demon stared at a very frustrated Joseph.

"They can decide how their children look like, but they don't love them? They endure all of that pain?" the blonde woman cried out. "Is it really like that?"

"Unfortunately, yes", Carmiza sighed, "When five years are out, we are full-grown and won't change ever again. We have the mind and intelligence of an adult and we can do whatever we want without needing any help from others."

Friedrich frowned and glanced at Ciel. Carmiza stared at him for a split-second, before leaning closer into the others.

"That is", the white haired demon said in a low, airily tone, now deciding that Carmiza had given him the perfect circumstances to utter a few well-chosen words, "…why we usually search for someone to love. It's very lonely to not have anyone to care about. Demons have only one heart to give and some of us are very cautious about guarding it. If a demon falls in love with someone, it's a very creditable gesture and one should never turn it down straightforwardly."

"Exactly my thoughts, Friedrich, exactly!" Carmiza exclaimed and clapped her hands in agreement. "Don't you think so too, Joseph?"

The brown haired man would have liked to hit something – no _someone_ – but of course, he couldn't do that, so instead he nodded grumpily. Why did all the discussions always turn out like this? "Yes, I do."

"It's terrible", Elizabeth muttered in a low voice and lowered her gaze, "really… terrible."

"No wonder they turn out like they do", Ciel agreed with an ignorant tone. Everybody looked surprised at him as he stood up and walked over to the chess table, where the teapot, filled with fresh water, waited. He poured the cold liquid in one of the cups and started to sip from it, staring at the wall in front of him.

_"Carmiza has been hinting the strangest things ever since I came here."_

Ciel shut his left eye too – the one without the contract mark -, embracing the darkness while he heard the others chat in the background. Firstly, Friedrich had been very mean against him – now when he thought about it, the white haired man had acted as if he was, well, _jealous_. Then Carmiza had been all worked up about Ciel, she had even hinted something about "true love" back then in that gloomy living room, during their first meeting.

Then she had played that chess game and claimed her so called price, which was to get an honest answer to her question; _"When are you, Ciel Phantomhive, ready to admit that you love that demon?"_

_"Okay, she clearly wants me to get something."_ Ciel sipped the rest of the water in one gulp.

He knew what that something could be, but he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to say it out aloud – no, not even in his head.

Because… _what if he was wrong?_ He would die just because of the embarrassment, when he has been assuming things that wasn't true. What if he was just imagining things and feelings where they weren't? What if he _just wanted_ something to happen, what if he was the only one feeling things? What would he do then? _What would Sebastian do then?_

He felt something gently touch his shoulder and jumped a bit at the same time as he hissed. He dropped the porcelain cup he had been holding in his anxious grip, but a quick hand snatched it before it hit the floor.

"Are you alright, Ciel? I'm sorry if I scared you."

Ciel looked surprised at the man next to him. Friedrich put down the cup and smirked challengingly.

"No, it's alright, I just… remembered something."

"It didn't look like a pleasant memory, then", the demon said in a low voice and ruffled his hair.

Both of them stared at each other, knowing that Ciel was lying – again. The strong sensation of déjà-vu hang in the air between them, but at last Ciel broke it by swallowing.

"He told me that neither of you were dating anyone", Ciel said, purposely avoiding to call out the name. He had to check this; he had to make sure that he wasn't making up things just in his head. The white haired demon was the perfect person to help him out on this – he would for sure tell the truth, if he really was jealous about Sebastian.

Friedrich eyes flashed pink for a short split-second, before he took control over the emotions rushing through him. "He did?" he echoed amused. "Well, it's true. Why do you ask?"

"Hm." Ciel bit his tongue and blushed while staring the white haired man straight in the eye. "I'm just checking if the memories really were pleasant ones."

**~XxX~**

**I have already published 110 pages of this fic, according to my Word document :o Yay me for writing that - yay you for reading all of it! ^^**

**Your support is very appreciated, thank you -^.^- And as always, please leave me some feedback if it feels like that :) It always manages to cheer me up and motivates me to write more ^^**


	22. Chapter 22

**Reminder: **I'm doing my best with my English... And actually, I think I've made progress! ^^ Sorry though for all the errors, please do correct me if you find any disturbing mistakes :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of its characters. Too bad :(

* * *

><p>All the prisoners screamed in unison when Alois woke up after his most recent tap game. He remembered that this time the pebble had sunk a little bit too deep into his flesh and it had hurt more than usual, but at least it had worked and he had lost conscious. Now he batted his eyes and looked around in confusion, as he always did after passing out.<p>

_"__Where am I?"_ he thought and shook his head, accidentally hitting his forehead in the icy ground underneath him. _"Ah, it's the cell. Why are they screaming? Is my blood still affecting them this strongly?"_

Slowly he started to recognize the gloomy surroundings. He saw the black, dirty prison bars, he spotted a few small lights further away in the dungeons and he could clearly identify the walls around him. There was also something he couldn't categorise straightaway, but it looked a lot like a pair of polished dress shoes and black pant legs. Suddenly he realised what – or rather who – he was staring at.

"Get up."

It was one short, sharp command, but Alois obeyed it immediately. He knew that voice; he had heard it so many times during the recent years.

He _loved _that voice.

"Claude."

The boy's eyes sparkled with happiness. The dark demon behind the bars pulled a disgusted face. He needed to fix this young human soul up and that as fast as possible. He couldn't have a dirty pet like this laying around, not if Sebastian Michaelis was having a boy in a much better shape than him. Claude had to be the best; otherwise, he might lose some of his supporters to the guy in the eastern district. Unsure and disloyal followers were fast in their movements and if they found out that some other protector was both stronger and better than their current one, they could leave just like that. Even though lousy subordinates and supporters wasn't very useful, they still were some kind of hidden force that kept rivals away and Claude couldn't afford losing something like that. Weaker demons were ruled by fear and brutal violence and only the strongest and scariest of the protectors could keep thousands of hungry, mad dark creatures in check.

"You look horrible." Claude glared at Alois' thigh. "Have you tried to kill yourself? I thought I told you to behave."

The blonde boy didn't answer and the demon didn't wait for any reply. Speedily he unlocked the door and let the weak human out. Alois feet shook and his knees were about to betray him, but his will power was stronger than his physical needs. He _wanted_ to do what Claude told him to and he forced his almost rotten body out of the cell without collapsing to the floor. When was the last time he had walked? Alois couldn't remember.

"Follow me."

Claude turned around and started to hurry back through the dungeons. Dirty hands reached out for both him and Alois, when they passed the hungry and angry demons. The former Earl's blood was tasty, and even if it hadn't been, the dark creatures wouldn't have cared. Most of them hadn't eaten anything in hundreds of years and even rotten, stinking animal bodies would have passed as delicate food by now.

Alois had a hard time to keep up the pace, but he did his best. His head spun and felt like passing out any minute, but he told himself again and again that this was what he had been waiting for, this was his big chance.

The dark demon _wanted_ him, _needed _him for something. The young man would do anything, just so he wouldn't have to sit in that small, horrible prison cell anymore. He had had enough of Charles and Roy, he had had enough of everybody and everything. A small flame burned in his chest, giving him hope. Maybe Claude had finally understood that he liked Alois too. That way, they would be able to be happy, both of them.

He had realised that he didn't like girls in quite a young age. Their voices were too high-pitched and they giggled way too much. They cried and demanded for things, their moods changed too fast for his liking. No, boys – and even better if they were _men_ – were so much better in every aspect. He had had crushes on several teenager boys and noblemen through his life, but he had never liked anyone as passionately as he had cared for Claude.

Now that aforementioned demon led Alois up a pair of rickety rock stairs that no one had bothered to clean. Dirt and pebbles covered the rough surface, ripping up the old wounds on Alois soles. It was too dark to see where he put his feet and he didn't have the time to explore the stairs gently before actually stepping on them. The young man didn't complain, but bit his mutilated lips and endured the pain in silence. He couldn't risk Claude's anger for now, otherwise he might have to return to the dungeon.

There was a terrible squeaky, metallic noise when Claude pushed up the heavy door, which separated the dungeon from the rest of the manor. He opened it without any problems and showed Alois out with a resolute expression on his face. For a short moment, they stood in the – for Alois – sharp light and stared at each other. The demon shut the thick door, while the teenager tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. His eyes had gotten so used to the darkness that they didn't know how to behave in normal lightning anymore.

The walls were papered in dark, saturated purple colours and there were candleholders on both sides of the hallways. A thick, red carpet covered the floor and the ceiling was carefully painted in a brown, eye-pleasing colour. There were a few paintings hanging from the walls too, but Alois couldn't see what the pictures represented.

"You will take a bath and heal those wounds. Then we'll see if you can be useful to me."

Alois glanced at Claude. A small, mischievous smirk had started to play on his bloody lips and his eyes sparkled expectantly. Of course, he would be useful: that was the whole point of his miserable existence. He opened his mouth, revealing the contract mark on his tongue. Claude raised his hand to stop Alois from speaking.

"Shut up brat and follow me."

The boy obeyed without any protest. Together they started to walk through the corridors, towards one of the guest room on the ground floor.

Claude wasn't the type of person who admitted that he was defeated, not until the very end. He would keep playing the game and fighting for his position as long as he remained conscious.

Sebastian Michaelis had made a very risky move when he had taken a pet to himself and there was no way that the two of them would be able to coexist anymore, not now when the other demon threatened Claude's position as one of the strongest protectors.

One of them must withdraw now, that was for sure - and Claude was not going to settle for anything less than victory.

* * *

><p>Joseph was eager to get away from the lounge. He had never liked his parents - since they had "blessed" him with such unique characteristics - so he wasn't very offended by Carmiza's tasteless jokes, but on the contrary he had started to get frustrated on his host, who so skilfully hid from his guests whenever they tried to chat him up.<p>

_Well, I suspect that he only hides from me", _Joseph assumed irritated and glanced at Carmiza, who now laughed at something Elizabeth had said just now. The brown haired demon had stopped to listen to the women's talk as soon as both Ciel and Friedrich had moved over to the other side of the room.

"I should go", Joseph said suddenly and smiled at the rest of the party while standing up, "please excuse me."

"Eh?" Carmiza's eyes sparkled with amusement when she interrupted herself and turned to gaze up on the muscular demon. "So soon?" She pouted sadly, but noted Elizabeth's relieved expression, which made her want to smile even wider. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who disliked this man. "What could possibly be more interesting than spending time _with_ _us_?"

Her loud statement had awakened the other's interest too. The white haired demon put down the cup he had had in his grasp and hovered over to the awkward visitor. "I hope you don't feel bored. My protector will be very disappointed in me, if my entertainment isn't good enough for his guests." Friedrich frowned.

Carmiza saw through his brilliant act, but she guessed she was the only one, since no one else in the room knew the white haired demon very well. She noted that Ciel looked disturbed, but he didn't try to interfere with the discussion. Apparently, Friedrich had had something intellectual to say, since the teen looked so deeply affected by their conversation.

"Eh, well, actually…" Joseph rubbed his neck and looked restlessly around. "I thought about maybe going to look at the… eh…" He had no idea how he would explain this now. Oh, Carmiza really was a troublesome woman!

"I know", Friedrich exclaimed, totally ignoring the other demon's distress, "I'll show you around once more! Last time was such a brief introduction, but now you've rested and we can look at all the interesting details _very _closely." He smiled widely, showing all of his perfectly white, sharp teeth, while shoving Joseph just a little bit too violently towards the door. "My protector would be very offended if you were to live at his estate without even getting a proper tour. There really is so much to see and I can tell you a lot about this place… please…"

Carmiza giggled as she met the white haired man's gaze, when he opened the door for the embarrassed visitor. He pulled a quick face – too fast for Ciel or Elizabeth to notice – to express his exasperation, but then he smiled again and shut the door behind himself, without excusing neither himself nor the "sightseer".

"Oh, his always in such a hurry", Carmiza sighed and shook her head, still smiling and without explaining who she was referring to, "how inconvenient, it truly is."

"Hm." Ciel looked at Carmiza and Elizabeth, not sure about what he should do now. The blonde woman picked quietly up her teacup and started to sip at her already lukewarm water, while the red haired one leaned her chin against her knuckles. She stared at Ciel with a genuine smile on her face.

Sure she had promised to Sebastian to watch over Ciel, but on the other hand, it really couldn't hurt to let him wander off a little bit… After all, Friedrich would "entertain" the guest for at least a few hours onward. Carmiza frowned slightly, while letting her gaze glide between the two human souls. Elizabeth truly loved Ciel and she didn't doubt that he cared for her too, but it was a very unbalanced relationship.

_"__Elizabeth knows a lot", _Carmiza reflected and licked her lips distractedly, "_but she doesn't know enough yet. I hope she gets the hints I've planted in our everyday discussions, but she'll probably need some more help. She's not dumb, no. This is just one of those things she probably wouldn't want to realise." _Carmiza rose slowly and stretched her arms. _"Ciel too, he's just as stubborn as Sebastian described him. Poor boy."_

"I really feel like taking a walk. The problem with this era is that noblemen sits way too much. They are intelligent and well-educated, yes, but they aren't fit or any fun to look at, not like the young men from the lower-classes", the demoness sighed, "or what do you think, Elizabeth?"

The girl almost choked on her water. She coughed several times and Ciel hurried to her side to help her. When Elizabeth had recovered from the shock enough to answer, she turned her blossomed face towards Carmiza, still with Ciel's caring hand on her shoulder.

The demoness knew that Elizabeth wasn't so flushed because of the water – no, it was the question. The red haired woman smirked satisfied, because her principle was that no one, absolutely_ no one_, could meet her without being played by her at least once.

"I don't understand what you mean", Elizabeth said vaguely. She glanced a bit worried at her former husband-to-be; who looked like he didn't knew how he was supposed to act.

"Oh, I think you do." The demon smiled even wider, letting her gaze meaningfully glide over to Ciel, who she scanned with overacted obviousness.

Now both Elizabeth and Ciel blushed like mad. The young man took his hand away from his former fiancée's shoulder, uncomfortable with the touch.

_"__What the hell? First, she implies things about Sebastian and now she tries to make both Lizzie and me embarrassed. What do she really want? Or is this just her game, maybe she really doesn't have any goal?"_ Ciel bit his lip. Oh yes, she did have a goal, but he couldn't see it yet – it was exactly like the chess game they had played earlier. She was too clever and there was no way he could outsmart her. _"She did warn me about her playing skills. I should have understood that she was going to use her methods on me too. Is she trying to drive Lizzie and me closer or further away from each other? Should I be more careful?"_

"I'm off-topic again", Carmiza sighed when she understood that no one was going to answer her previous question, "I was about to take a walk. Would you like to join me, Elizabeth? I have some things I would like to discuss with you."

The blonde girl glanced at Ciel and nodded hesitantly. "If you want me to accompany you, then I'll do it." Slowly she rose and walked across the room without glancing at her former betrothed. He frowned and crossed his arms across his chest.

_"__Are they going to talk about something Carmiza doesn't want me to hear or why else all this mysteriousness?" _Ciel swallowed discreetly, as he watched the blonde teenager leave the room.

Carmiza turned around at the door, mischievously smirking at the lost looking boy. "Sebastian told me to keep an eye on you, but my companion is feeling a bit unwell, so I'll make sure she doesn't pass out somewhere in this _enormous _manor. I'm going to lock this door and keep you in here, since I'm the biggest whore you'll ever meet. You know, I really don't trust you, because who knows what kind of crazy ideas you could get?" She winked and laughed sweetly, before linking her and Elizabeth's arms together. Hastily the women disappeared out in the hallway, Carmiza still laughing (and leaving the door wide open) and Elizabeth quickly glancing at Ciel over her shoulder before marching out into the corridors with a confused expression.

"Huh?" Ciel batted his eyes in surprise. That red haired demon _really _did make all her moves so incredibly fast; there was no way for him to follow all her whimsical changes. "What does she want me to do now?"

A complete silence fell in the room, overwhelming Ciel. At his manor, there had usually been constant noise at least somewhere: Mey-Rin had dropped some porcelain; Bard had managed to find some creative way to use his flamethrower; Finnian had accidentally ripped out a tree with roots and all; Snake's snakes had chased mice or then the all of them came up with some "plan" to "help" Sebastian - which always ended up in a catastrophe. Really – only the dark butler had been completely silent and acted like a real servant, since Tanaka had been useless most of the time.

_"__Well, she left the door wide open and there really isn't anything to do here", _Ciel thought after a while, _"it can't hurt to look around for a bit. If Sebastian had done the tour around his estate properly, I wouldn't have to do it like this, on my own."_ It was a pitiful explanation for his actions, but whatever. Ciel was curious and Carmiza had more or less wanted him to do this.

He swallowed and started slowly to stroll across the hallway. Even though he walked with pride, he did it in a very quiet, catlike manner – his tail wagged slowly from one side to the other and his ears flickered every now and then. Soon he realised he had more or less started to head back to thei-, _Sebastian's_ bedroom.

One of the doors was open, when he passed it and low mumbles was heard from inside the room. The familiar sounds made him slow down outside the unknown room and then finally halt. They were men's voices and Ciel recognised both. He furrowed his eyebrows and sneaked up against the wall, carefully peeking through the gap between the door and the wall, while he felt his tail softly wrap itself around his arm.

"…calm down", Sebastian's voice said softly, "I'm not having any affairs."

"And how am I supposed to trust your word?" a high-pitched, upset man's voice asked. "Carmiza told me about it!"

_"__Grell?"_ Ciel gulped. _"What is Sebastian doing with Grell? Why do they sound like that?" _Slowly he tried to sneak closer to the door. He couldn't see anything from here and the voices were muffled too.

The only thing he could see from the gap was the opposite wall in the room, wherefrom the low voices came. The wallpaper was light yellow and he noticed a golden candle-holder with lit wax lights. He bit his lip a bit vacillated between wanting to know more and feeling the urge to flee the whole situation.

"And how are you going to do about Ciel then? Are you expecting _me _to take care of Elizabeth and him? Oh, you're so cruel, Sebby…!"

A clear sigh was heard. It sounded like Sebastian was actually distressed about the things Grell said. "No, I will have to supervise Ciel a bit longer, but this is going to subside in time, just be patient…"

Ciel heard how someone was moving closer to the door that hid him from the two men. He panicked and started to hastily walk away. A little further, into the hallway, there was yet another door open. Not knowing what else to do, he peaked into to empty room to check if that was a good hiding place.

* * *

><p>Alois sat in a giant bathtub, covered in foam. Small bubbles rose from the water and he waved his sore arms in a lazy attempt to pop them. He tilted his head to the side and licked his mutilated lips, now tasting the flavour of his own blood.<p>

He was finally let out from his prison. He had assumed that Claude would probably sooner or later come up with some task that only Alois would be able to execute, but to be honest: for a few moments, he had actually believed that he would rot in that stinky dungeon for the rest of his existence.

Claude had shoved Alois into the bathroom without uttering another word. In there, the blonde boy had – much to his pleasure – found clean towels and a tub filled with steaming hot water. He had quickly ripped of his torn clothes and slid down into the bath.

The burn… He could feel every nerve in his numb body. For a moment, he had completely forgot how it was like to _be alive_. He had felt the itch and the pain – but he hadn't hated it, no, not at all. Just because he was out of that dungeon, didn't mean that he would suddenly stop being mad. He had _loved_ the pain, even though he himself was the victim and had to endure the torture.

All the wounds had opened again. The foam and soaps felt like knife stabs, but did Alois care about that? Oh no, not at all. He had only tilted his head back and let out long, satisfied sighs. He had never cared about his own life, but in some twisted way, he wasn't ready to let go either. He wanted to be in this world, he wanted to witness all of the sickness in it and if he could, he would add his own craziness to it.

The bath water had slowly started to turn red. It looked like Alois bathed in very thin, weak blood – which he in fact did. The smell of fresh meat rose with the steam and Alois tried to imagine how a demon would feel about the fragrance. It was hard, but when he closed his eyes and pictured some cute teenager boy in his mind (someone with rather little clothes on and completely soaked in blood) he could pretend to be a hungry demon.

Had all those criminals in the dungeon felt like that, when Alois had spread the scent of his own blood in the whole cellar? A wide smirk cracked his face in half, when he opened his eyes and stared at the clean, white wall in front of him. He was extremely pleased with himself – he had managed to control every demons' thought while staying down there.

Alois bathed for about an hour, but when the water started to cool down, he climbed up and wrapped himself in one of those fluffy towels that waited for him. Soon Claude barged in, as if he had been standing outside the bathroom, waiting for the teen to get ready.

The blonde boy stared at Claude all the time, while the demon changed the water in the tub. He was very disappointed, when the dark man didn't show any sort of reaction to the fact that the whole room was filled with a very strong smell of fresh blood. Alois grimaced irritated, but didn't say anything – it seemed like he had found one demon that he couldn't control as easily as he would have wanted to.

"Listen." Claude turned to Alois and narrowed his eyes, quietly straightening his glasses. "I need you to do something for me."

The teenaged tilted his head to the side, wickedly smiling. "What is it, Claude?"

"We are going on a little trip. My subordinate hasn't come back yet and it makes me believe that he has failed on his mission. I have to go and complete the task myself and you're going to come with me."

Alois supported his whole weight on his right foot, trying to look more confident. He smirked and started to examine his sharp, neglected nails. "What do you want me to do?"

Claude crossed his arms across his chest and clenched his teeth. This boy was such a desperate being, really. If this boy's soul wasn't perfect to reshape as a demon's pet, Claude would have got rid of him a long time ago.

"There is this boy, whose physique I'm very interested in. I want you to try to get close to him and make him spit out his secrets, so you can make use of them too. Do you think you can do that?"

If it were for Claude, of course Alois would be able to do it – whatever it was. The young man lowered his hand and nodded: now curiously looking at the demon. "Who is this boy?"

"I believe you know him." Claude turned around and opened the door, ready to leave the bathroom. Alois tried hard not to open his mouth and word his displeasure. "He was a young Earl from the London region. I think he worked for the queen."

Alois eyes widened a bit. His grip around the towel got a little bit tighter. He was Alois Trancy - former Earl Trancy – and he had lived quite near London he too. He had met several noblemen from near and far, and he had had crushes on more men that he could count. Could it be that the boy in question…?

"He made a contract with a demon, who calls himself Sebastian Michaelis, and now he has adapted several features that are very interesting to me and soon to you too." Claude ignored the clear baffled expression on his contractor's face. He left the room and was about to close the door, when he met Alois puzzled gaze one last time, before shutting the door and leaving the teen alone.

"The boy's name is Ciel Phantomhive."

* * *

><p>When Ciel stepped into the room, the first thing he noticed was that the walls were wholly covered in bookshelves; but also there seemed to be a narrow wardrobe and a few empty shelves inbuilt. Two dark, chocolate brown armchairs stood in one of the corners, companied by yet another burning plant. The flooring was made of chestnut panels and an enormous candelabrum with several lit candles was hanging from the ceiling, making the whole room glow with light. Ciel entered the room, scanning everything: especially the huge work desk and armchair in the middle, where someone had piled lots of papers and different kind of unfamiliar and familiar objects. Slowly he started to approach it, not sure, why he had come there in the first place.<p>

_"__I should turn around and go away. Sebastian will be angry if he get to know about this. Carmiza shouldn't have let me out in the first place."_

Ciel hesitated for a moment before he reached out for the nearest paper on the desk. There was a lot of weird symbols on it and a little English. Some of the sentences were written in a very old-fashioned language and some words looked like Gibberish to Ciel. He frowned and let the paper fall back to the desk.

_"__This must be someone's study."_ He raised his eyebrows and touched the high pile of papers, waiting on the desk to be read. _"Maybe Sebastian's. I didn't knew demons had this much paperwork. I still don't understand what they actually work with. I thought their main job was to make contracts and eat souls. How naïve of me."_

Suddenly there was noises from outside the study. Ciel jumped and lost it once again – he wasn't supposed to be here, how would he explain this?

_"__The real question is: _Will _I have time to explain this?" _Ciel bit his tongue and hurried over to the wardrobe without thinking. It was stupid - he wasn't a child who needed to hide from his angry parents – but something inside him compelled him to get away as fast as he could. He knew that he was the weakest creature in Hell and why would he voluntarily tempt fate? It was better to escape the whole situation.

Quickly he opened the wardrobe door and crawled into the closet, shutting the door with his tail. It ended up stuck in the opening, making Ciel to cry out in soundless pain, but despite that he fitted into the small space just in time.

_"__I believed demons were noiseless and moved faster", _Ciel thought while catching his breath, _"I was lucky for once."_

Sebastian entered the room, frowning. He had had the habit of moving in a more humanlike pace from his time at the Phantomhive manor and hadn't given up that custom of his even though there was no need to move slowly. Now he noticed that there was a very strong fragrance of Ciel in the study, but first he wasn't entirely sure if he just imagined it or if the scent had got stuck on his own clothes.

The raven-haired man looked around the room and sighed, glared at the ceiling and clenched his teeth while cross thoughts started to spin around in his stressed mind. _"Carmiza…" _He glared around himself. _"Ciel…"_

He was just about to turn around again and walk out, when a terrible loud noise made him freeze at the spot.

"Sebby…!"

Suddenly Grell ran in – he must had been following Sebastian from earlier, the demon assumed. They almost collided, but the dark, tall man moved out of the way (just a split-second before the catastrophe occurred), causing the Shinigami to crash into the massive work desk instead.

"What is it now?" the demon muttered. "I have work to do."

"I know, but I still have some things to tell you about. You left so quickly!"

Ciel didn't see the scene outside the wardrobe, but he heard the voices. Sebastian sounded irritated and did several tries to get Grell to leave, but the Shinigami was very persistent. At last, the demon warned the shrill voiced man with a rather violent threat and finally he managed to make the other man serious and tell him about the issue.

"You're so mean, Sebby…" There was a loud thud and an anxious inhale. "No wait, I have something I have to tell you, right now."

"What is it?" Sebastian sighed.

The teen in the closet sat very uncomfortably. There was some clothes hanging above him, but he wasn't sure what they were – just that they smelled like Sebastian. He inhaled the soothing scent and tried to as quietly as possible wiggle a little bit to the left, so he could curl up at the bottom of the wardrobe. It was good that he was so small and was used to try to take as little space as he could – otherwise he wouldn't have managed to hide in there.

Ciel didn't listen to the conversation in the study, but he understood that Sebastian wasn't pleased and Grell seemed awkward. He tried very hard not to cause any noise, but suddenly he felt something fall from the rack above him. It wasn't very loud, but it wasn't completely silent either - to his dissatisfaction.

The voices outside died out.

"What was that?" Grell asked scared, forgetting the earlier topic. "Don't tell me that you are hiding someone in that closet, Sebby! Is there someone else? Are you cheating on me? Tell me right now!"

Sebastian sighed as irritated as ever. Ciel bit his tongue – this wasn't good, not at all. He could imagine the dark demon open the door and tower up over him, staring at him with dark, furious eyes. "There's no one hiding anywhere. Now, get out of here, you have caused me enough trouble for today!"

Of course, Grell wouldn't listen to the command, but at least he accepted Sebastian's statement about hiding someone in the room. Ciel exhaled with ease, when he heard Sebastian deny Grell's doubts – it seemed like he had managed to trick Sebastian. Now he just had to wait until the demon left and he could quietly sneak out and to the bedroom, as if he never been there in the first place.

"Oh, I knew you wouldn't cheat on me," Grell exclaimed happily, "I think we should do something together. Maybe something romantic, _eh_?"

Ciel waited for Sebastian rejection, but it never came. In fact, the demon stayed awfully quiet. _"What is going on out there?" _The teen shut his eyes and listened carefully. He heard papers rustle and foots stroll around, as Grell continued to talk. Sebastian mumbled something every now and then, but he didn't try to get the Shinigami to leave. The familiar scent had surrounded Ciel and he started to feel sleepy.

"Sebby!" Grell shouted, suddenly excited. "Don't do that to me, no it… haha, it tickles!"

_"__What _are_ they doing?"_ Ciel opened one of his eyes in confusion (and suddenly awakened again), but it was completely dark in the closet and it really didn't help him, so he shut it soon again. How was it possible to feel this sleepy in a situation like this? He was curious about what Sebastian and Grell did, but wasn't completely sure if he wanted to know. Sebastian always acted as if he detested the Shinigami, but maybe that wasn't the case? After all, demons do lie.

"Now, leave", Sebastian ordered Grell.

And the red haired man left. Ciel frowned irritated, when he didn't know what the demon had done to make the red haired, annoying man obey him just like that. _"But I shouldn't have been here to begin with and heard anything at all", _he thought and silenced a small yawn, _"I have to wait until Sebastian leaves and then return to the bedroom. Hopefully no one will go check on me before that."_ A flash image of an angry Sebastian appeared in his mind. _"This isn't good, but I can't come out now, that wouldn't be any better."_

He listened very eagerly to the sounds from the study. There could be long, silent breaks and Ciel was always ready to jump up and slip out, but every time he was about to push the door open, he heard papers rustle or a very annoyed sigh from Sebastian.

_"__Is he working?"_ Ciel wondered and tried his best not to be heard when he yawned. _"I'm so tired, even though I woke up just a few hours ago. I didn't realise I had such a big lack of sleep."_

To Ciel's honour, he was very resistant and it took him a few hours at the bottom of the wardrobe, but finally he fell asleep, surrounded by the comforting smell of his former butler. He had to bit his lip very hard, not to let out any inappropriate sounds – like purring, for instance.

When Ciel's mind had wandered off to his dreamland, Sebastian rose from his chair and walked over to the closet. He had shut the study door after Grell and made sure that no one would stumble in anytime soon. Slowly he opened the door and looked down at the small boy at the bottom of the wardrobe.

How had Ciel ended up here? Did the boy _really_ think Sebastian wouldn't notice his presence?

Sebastian crouched down, closely observing the sleeping male. Ciel was so small and harmless, really. The demon doubted that no other human being could be so extremely malicious and at the same time look like God's ultimate creation. What a shame that the teen was turning into a less and less despicable persona, the further Sebastian pushed him.

On the other hand – hadn't Ciel intrinsically been a very kind and sweet child, before his parents' deaths? Everybody but Ciel claimed so and it was very possible that Sebastian in fact did nothing more than slowly encouraged him to get back his old self, even though the demon had been helping Ciel to create his new, ignorant personality in the first place. That was one of the few things that Sebastian actually regretted.

The raven-haired man sighed and leaned closer in to the wardrobe, still intensively staring at the sleeping boy. Gently he reached out for the teen and pulled out the relaxed body from the narrow closet, making sure not to wake up the cat looking human.

"My, my", he mumbled in a low tone into Ciel's ear, "what a naughty kitten I have found. Hide and seek really is a tiresome game, isn't it? I have to admit that I assumed you would be able to play a little longer, but maybe you're sleepier than what I expected. I wonder if I shouldn't be a little kinder to you… but then you would never learn."

* * *

><p><strong>I know, I know, it's a bit boring... Sorry! :(<strong>

**Anyways, next chapter will be more... eh, could I call it, eh... _intense_ - I promise! ^^ Do leave me some feedback if it feels like that, your support is very appreciated! And never think that I wouldn't know that you're there: I keep stalking the stats, my dear readers ;)**

**A confession and some shameless self-advertisement:  
>I didn't feel like editing this chapter during the weekend (yup...), so I started to write something entirely else... And I swear, it was supposed to be very innocent! But then... It turned out to be not-so-innocent anymore ^^' So if you feel like reading a SebaCiel one-shot à la sailorel, then I suggest you go to my profile and take a look at that random fic called "A different kind of case: Finally mine?" ^^<strong>

**Uggh, right, now I have told you about that little piece. See ya next update then, eh? ^^**


	23. Chapter 23

**Reminder: **A message to my English grammar: "One day, I _will_ find you, I _will_ threaten you with my gun, and you _will_ help me to write correctly. That day isn't today, since I don't know how to use a gun - but just wait, I will come for you..."

**Disclaimer: **Bad news: I do not own Kuroshitsuji. Good news: It's all Yana Toboso's instead :)

**XxX**

"So", Sebastian said amused, while taking off his overcoat, "how do you explain sleeping in my wardrobe, in my study, where you have absolutely no reason to be in?"

He threw his coat on the desk behind him, tugged off his gloves and then placed them neatly on top of the pile of clothes. Slowly he started to roll up his sleeves, giving the impression that he was going to do something messy and was afraid that his clothes would get dirty in the process. He glanced at the young male in front of him from underneath his bangs, his eyes sparkling with mischief and with a hint of a smile dancing on his lips.

"Eh?" Ciel blinked and then rubbed his eyes. If it had been back on Earth, he would have snorted and told Sebastian that it was none of the butler's business to interfere in his master's doings, but now he had to remind himself that it was something Sebastian in fact did had the right to be curious about. "I got… lost?"

The demon chortled. "You don't sound very convinced of your own words, Ciel."

_"__Well, that's probably because I don't believe in my lies",_ Ciel thought sarcastically and rose from the chair, which he had woke up in only a few minutes earlier. It seemed like Sebastian had found him (after he had fallen asleep) and then just moved him to the study.

_"__He didn't wake me up." _Ciel wasn't sure how he felt about the kind gesture Sebastian had shown him. He reflected over all the things he should confront Sebastian about, but he couldn't utter the right words to express his feelings.

The demon watched his young contractor, as the boy walked over to the shelves that covered pretty much all of the walls, and started to examine all the books there. Ciel had purposely turned his back to Sebastian, because he wasn't certain how he was supposed to act around the demon anymore. There had happened far too many strange things between them and the teen felt as if he needed some kind of _conclusion_ or maybe an explanation for all the weird incidents. _"No, they're not even incidents. I think Sebastian has intentionally arranged some of them."_

Ciel had been sleeping for at least three hours and sometimes he had cried out in very desperate, scared wails. At last Sebastian had got tired of it and had decided to wake the boy up, but when he bent down over that small, sleeping figure, the teen had suddenly completely quietened. By that, Sebastian had come to the only logical assumption, judging by all the evidence this far: Ciel had problems sleeping alone, which lead to him seeing nightmares or just being generally uneasy.

"Are you going to tell me nicely or not?" Sebastian smirked at the slender teenager who just walked around, seemingly ignoring the demon's presence. "Because I'm very keen on getting to know your side of the story, before judging your actions."

The boy glared at the demon over his shoulder and then turned around to face the tall man. He quickly scanned Sebastian's figure: the man's amused expression, his crossed arms and casual position as he leaned against the work desk behind him. "Carmiza told me to go back to your room…" – Sebastian quickly raised his eyebrows when he heard Ciel's choice of words, but it happened in such a short flash, so the boy wasn't sure if he had seen right – "…but then I found this room, and I saw that the door was left open. Then… I heard someone coming and I panicked."

A very delicate pink blush appeared on Ciel's cheeks. He sounded so stupid and it really was dumb – he shouldn't have walked into a room just like that. Sebastian seemed to think the same thing, but he was nothing but entertained by the foolish story. He knew that Ciel lied, but he also assumed that Carmiza probably had something to do with the little adventure.

In an unbelievable quick motion, Sebastian had grabbed Ciel around the waist and carried him to the desk, but in a much faster manner than what the boy's slow mind could process. Therefore, the first thing Ciel picked up was that he was put down on the edge of the huge table. After that the sudden dizziness had went away, he found himself sitting at that very same spot where Sebastian had leaned just a split-second ago. He also noticed that that certain, dark haired demon now leaned over him in quite an uncomfortable angle, forcing him to slightly arch his back and support himself with his hands.

"Are you implying that I should from now on always ensure that all of this manor's doors are tightly shut, so my little kitten won't go on a journey into some strange room and then get lost?" He chuckled in a low, very gleeful tone – which was very unnatural for Sebastian – and showed off one of his sweetest smiles, as Ciel's face flushed into an even deeper colour.

The usual crimson shade in the demon's eyes melted away, just so a pink, shiny one could instead replace it. Ciel bit his lower lip, not sure, how he was supposed to respond. Slowly he shook his head, looking at Sebastian with uncertainty in his eyes. "No… I just got lost, really. I'll be more carefully the next time."

Now Sebastian frowned with pretended worry and met Ciel's gaze with doubt in his eyes. "You are supposing that I'll continuously let you walk around at your own. If I were you…" his smile got even wider, "…I wouldn't do such rushed assumptions."

_"__Well, technically it was Carmiza who let me wander off, not Sebastian, but that won't really help me now", _Ciel thought sarcastically. He felt how his tail restlessly squirmed around.

To be honest: Sebastian had lost his original plan. He had made up a clear strategy of what he wanted to do to Ciel, but he forgot it – no, actually he just plainly _ignored_ it. The boy looked far too tempting for his own good, when he blushed and glanced nervously around like that, with his hair a little bit too messy to be considered decent and that eye-patch of his covering up the evidence of their bond.

_"__Hm." _Sebastian felt a very unpleasant wave of feelings rush through him and frowned a bit. _"I should probably do something about that."_

The demon "ripped" – he just took it off in a very swift move, which Ciel couldn't register due to his slow reflexes – off the eye-patch, so he could get a closer look at the brand in the boy's eye. He knew how it looked, since it actually was his own, but he had never before had a contractor who would have agreed to put the mark in their eye. Sebastian exposed his sharp teeth for a brief moment, before he came back to his right mind and restrained himself from doing anything too rough.

They stared at each other. Ciel swallowed greatly and parted his lips, letting out a very low sigh. Sebastian narrowed his eyes and let his canines show, but didn't interrupt the teen, when he gathered himself so he could talk.

"Wait", he pleaded in a low voice, "I have been thinking about this one thing…"

Sebastian tilted his head to the side and leaned a little bit closer to the boy, who shivered and unexpectedly pressed his now sweaty palm against the demon's shoulder. The raven-haired man raised his eyebrows, but remained silent.

"…why are you doing this?" Ciel asked then, in a shaky tone, "I still don't want to be used by you. If you're going to eat me, then do it now. I'm afraid that I won't be able to continue like this forever, since some things… eh… are changing…" His voice died slowly, but Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, encouraging the embarrassed boy to explain further. "I'm trying to tell you that… I… have these strange_… feelings_."

There was a deep silent after the awkward statement. Ciel let his hand slip down and fall into his lap and he looked at Sebastian with shame. At last, the demon smiled a little, amused by how serious Ciel had managed to sound while expressing his thoughts about these… _emotions_ he was having.

"I haven't planned to devour you any time soon", Sebastian murmured sugary and let his warm respiration fill the boy's ear, "don't worry about that."

Ciel stared at the bookshelves over Sebastian's shoulder, eager to know what the demon was going to do next. The touch of the warm air burned the nerves in his ear and it reminded him of all the other times he felt the same kind of sensation as now. His head spun with arousal and a new kind of _pressure_ he never felt before. Or maybe. It resembled a lot those feelings he had after his rather awkward dreams.

_"__I really don't know what this is", _Ciel thought dizzy and batted his eyes as he inhaled sharply, _"but I think I like it. No, in fact I love it, when I'm able to feel such feelings."_ His human life had been filled with desperation, hate and pain and no one had ever offered him anything like this. _"Is this just a thing about demons or have I been missing it my whole life?"_

Sebastian chuckled and let the tip of his nose trail down Ciel's jawline. He placed his hand on Ciel's chest, causing a gentle pressure, which forced the boy to lean back even more.

Ciel batted his eyes in sudden clarity. Where was this going? What was happening? He shouldn't be doing this, he should try to question Sebastian!

He turned his head away and looked at the other direction, not wanting to meet his former butler's gaze. "No."

The demon's eyes darkened a bit, but just for a short flash. It seemed like Ciel hadn't completely lost his stubbornness yet. "Yes." Sebastian grabbed Ciel's chin and forced the teen to look at him.

Neither of them was entirely sure of what happened, when Sebastian's lips collided with Ciel's. Ciel gasped surprised and when he opened his mouth to breathe in, he gave Sebastian's tongue free entrance. The demon started to skilfully explore his contractor's mouth, not caring about that particular boy's weak tries to push him away.

It was warm and it was soft: it was something Ciel had never before experienced during his seventeen years long life. No, Ciel wasn't going to admit that he liked it. Yes, he would want to experience that strange, pulsating feeling more often, but no, he wouldn't admit that either.

When Sebastian pulled away – just a little bit -, he smirked even wider than earlier. Ciel was breathless and he let his head drop between his outstretched arms, so he would get a chance to pull himself together.

Wait – his outstretched arms?

He looked confused up and met Sebastian's sparkling, pinkish gaze. Then he slowly looked down, just to find his own hands clinging to the demon's skirt. When did this happen? Had he tried to pull the taller man closer to himself, push him further away or just supported himself while… _kissing_?!

Furiously blushing he let his hands immediately drop, hearing the demon amusedly chuckle at the gesture.

"You better not be lying about your plans to devour me", Ciel muttered and jumped off from the table. He was a bit dizzy and almost lost balance, but Sebastian grabbed him by his arms and smiled satisfied.

"I am not lying to you, Ciel Phantomhive", Sebastian sighed and lightly shook his head, "I enjoy this far too much."

Ciel snorted. This wasn't normal, not at all. He shouldn't be kissing another man – not a _demon_ of all things. He should have get married to Lizzie and they should have gotten children together and…

He blushed even deeper when he remembered the "story" Carmiza had been telling them just a few hours ago. What was he thinking? This was _Sebastian_, his former butler and he was Ciel Phantomhive a highly respected _Earl_. He had heard rumours about two men that engaged with each other, but something like this…? No, that wasn't supposed to happen to him, they were just rumours about other people, people that he didn't knew or even met.

"You liked it, didn't you?" Sebastian smirked as he looked down at the baffled teenager next to him, still holding the younger male in his grip.

Ciel batted his eyes and looked up at the tall, dark demon. Sebastian had kissed him. Carmiza had been hinting on such _strange _things and Friedrich was obviously jealous. Could it really be…? Maybe he hadn't imagined all those things…? He didn't open his mouth to answer, it was too difficult. What if all the things were true? Would Sebastian's expectations on Ciel increase if he admitted that he had like that… eh… _kiss_? And… Grell? No, Ciel wasn't worried about Grell. Sebastian hated the red haired man – right?

Easy now, when did Ciel become jealous?

All the amusement vanished from the demon's face, but his eyes still burned with bright desire. He bent down closer to Ciel, who did a very pathetic try to get away from Sebastian. For a short moment, they just stared at each other.

"I'm serious, Ciel", the demon said. Yet again, he used his firm, compassionated tone, with a vague hint of actual care. Ciel couldn't be imagining that, could he now? No, this had to be true - this _had to_ be happening. It wasn't just some dream once again. "Please tell me honestly, did you like it or not?"

The teen gulped. They continued to stare at each other: Ciel's eyes were wide and open; meanwhile Sebastian's were bottomless and glowing. He parted his lips again, slowly, and licked them absent-mindedly. Suddenly he broke the eye contact.

If Sebastian had had a human heart, it would probably had stopped right there, at that particular moment. Unfortunately, he was born a demon and demons were built to survive everything. He continued to stare at Ciel, but the boy didn't say anything. _"Why doesn't he answer?"_

"It's alright", he said at last and let go of Ciel, keeping his voice in check, not revealing any of his feelings. He forced his eyes to turn crimson again, but he felt real, physical pain twitch around in his chest, ripping his "soul" (or at least Sebastian compared that strong feeling of affection inside him to a "soul") into small pieces. He even took a step back to keep distance to the younger male. "I will stop it right now if you don't like it. I promise. You just have to say it."

"No…" Ciel bit his lip, still staring at his own feet instead of Sebastian. The demon felt like turning around a hit something as hard as he could (which was rather hard) and maybe even _force_ Ciel to do things the boy clearly _didn't want _to do.

Sebastian froze at the spot, terrified with himself. What was he thinking? He couldn't do that to his fragile, delicate contractor, he would never forgive himself if he compelled the teen to something for his own pleasure. Just because he had the upper hand and could control the contract and _make_ Ciel do stuff, didn't mean that he should use that possibility. If the boy didn't want him, then he would just have to let that small creature be – maybe move him somewhere deeper into the manor, where he could do whatever he wanted to do (Sebastian didn't even know what Ciel did on his spare time. Did he sleep? Did he purr?). Sebastian would never harm that usually bored teen; even if that meant that he couldn't approach Ciel. He would just make sure that neither of them were to be harmed, since the cat looking boy was legally his property. If something was to happen to Sebastian, other demons could take Ciel as their own (since that way he would be ownerless and that would definitely lead to the use of the unwritten rule: "whoever gets it first, owns it") – and the former butler _knew_ that the rest of the population in Hell would never treat a pet as good as he did.

"…I shouldn't like it. Sebastian…" The former Earl turned his head and looked at the much taller male. Sebastian noted that the boy looked truly helpless. "This shouldn't be like this. I was supposed to marry Lizzie and… Wouldn't it be better if I didn't like it?" He shook his head lightly, shivering. "I don't know anymore, but I think that I… eh… enjoyed it?"

_"__I wasn't supposed to say that!"_ a small voice shouted in Ciel's mind. _"What the heck is going on?"_

As if the confusion wasn't enough, Ciel opened his mouth once again. He swallowed and stared at the dark man with wide, innocent eyes. "Did… did you like it?"

A small smirk appeared on Sebastian's red lips and his eyes grew pink again – and this time they were totally out of the demon's control. He grabbed the boy's chin and pushed Ciel against the desk next to them, forcing the defenceless male to either painfully press his back against the edge or lean closer to the demon.

"Would I do this if I didn't like it?" The former butler suspected that he had never before felt this relieved about anything.

Ciel's breath was now a lot heavier than a few minutes ago. What was Sebastian about to do? He had had enough excitement for a whole year by now and he wasn't sure about how much more he could take, before the pressure in his entire body grew too difficult to restrict.

The demon exposed his teeth again and tilted his head a little bit to the side. They looked at each other, but neither of them knew what was supposed to happen now. After all, this was a new and strange - yet very fascinating - thing for both of them.

Suddenly the moment broke. Sebastian stiffened and pushed Ciel a little bit further away from himself.

"Please sit down."

The teen's thoughts were tangled and chaotic, but he heard the distress in Sebastian's voice and obeyed silently – yet a bit too hesitantly for his own liking. He walked over to one of the brown armchairs in the corner of the room and curled up there, closely following Sebastian, when the ex-butler dressed himself swiftly.

When the door opened and the two (a bit confused) males saw who was interrupting them – and to both's frustration, it turned out to be Joseph and Friedrich. The demons looked surprised at Ciel – whose face was red, hair messy and there was no eye-patch to be seen – and then at Sebastian, who smiled politely, not even glancing at his ever so tempting contractor.

"How can I help you?" He focused his gaze on Friedrich, who looked very disturbed, when he found Ciel in his protector's study.

"Joseph would like to talk with you", Friedrich announced a bit irritated, still glaring at the teen in the corner.

"Is it something very important?" Sebastian asked calmly. He didn't like the way that brown haired demon stared at Ciel's branded eye. In fact, he didn't like Joseph at all. If it wasn't for the care of their reputations, he and Carmiza would have killed that man long ago already.

"Yes, in fact it is," Joseph shook his head, having problems to control his pink flashing, hungry eyes, "I feel like you have tried to avoid me, Sebastian." He couldn't take his gaze away from the awkward teen in the corner. Ciel turned his head away – he wanted to leave the room, but he couldn't do anything else than wait for the intruders to leave first.

Friedrich and Sebastian stared at each other for a short moment, until Sebastian nodded. "I'm very sorry if you feel like that, Joseph, hopefully I can make that up to you. Friedrich, could you take Ciel with you when you leave?"

"Hm." The white haired man glared at Ciel, who rose and left quietly – even he avoided meeting Sebastian's gaze, exactly as Sebastian had avoided his. The demon pulled his hand through his hair and shut the door behind himself, leaving his protector alone with the unsatisfied guest. He looked down at the cat-boy, who had crossed his arms. "What is it with you?"

"Nothing." Ciel turned his head away, still blushing. "Shall we go?"

"If you want to."

Together they walked across the hallway in complete silence. Friedrich glanced at the slender boy occasionally, but got no response. A vague fragrance of Sebastian rose from Ciel, which made the white haired demon want to pull a face and ask about it. Unfortunately, it didn't have anything to do with him and he would only get in trouble by bothering the cat-boy with such things. He ended up without any answers: only letting a mute teen into the bedroom and then locking the door behind him.

Well, that was only an empty habit and order. Sebastian insisted to keep Ciel safe from even the most unlikely threats and Friedrich didn't try to tell him to act otherwise. Even so, he wouldn't have needed to lock anything at all – at least not for the sake of trying to restrict the boy's movements – since Ciel wasn't really in a hurry to get away from the room anytime soon, so to say.

**XxX**

**Good, bad, yes, no? :)**

**Thank you for your support, I'm so, _so_ happy! ^^**

**You have to admit that my subconsciousness' brilliancy is baffling. I realised that in the previous chapter, I have more or less "accidentally" put Ciel into a closet and made Sebastian pull him out of there :o You guys do see what I'm hinting on, eh? ;)**

** Whatever :)**


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